Dalton Mills, all attached buildings and yard surface

Dalton Mills is a group of multi-storey former spinning mills and associated buildings constructed between 1866 and 1872, with later alterations. The complex was designed by William Sugden of Leek, Staffordshire, for the firm of J and J Craven.

The buildings are constructed of coursed dressed sandstone, rusticated in places, with a mixture of roofing materials including stone slate, Welsh slate and modern materials. Stone setts pave the courtyard and extend through the entrance archway.

The mills are arranged around a narrow courtyard. The main entrance lies to the north, off Dalton Lane, and leads through a reception office and pay office into the yard. To the west stands Genappe Mill, a long three-storey building running approximately east to west. To the east is Tower Mill, a square four-storey building with a single-storey section on its north side. Extending south from Tower Mill is a series of buildings of various dates, including a former engine shed. At the southern end stands a detached chimney, square in plan. New Mill, which has three storeys, runs parallel to Genappe Mill at the rear, with a ruinous linking block to the west that was probably a former warehouse. An engine house stands at the eastern end of New Mill, and a small group of north-light weaving sheds is attached to the north side. The yard is surfaced with stone setts.

Tower Mill has four storeys with nine bays facing the road and seven to the side. Corner turrets stand at the north-eastern and south-eastern corners, with pyramidal roofs rising one floor above the main block. A larger tower at the north-west corner extends beyond the main block and has clock faces on the north and west elevations, with a smaller top stage set to one side of a balcony with a parapet. A full-height metal fire escape is attached adjacent to the south-eastern corner tower. The windows have ashlar segmental arches with keystones, with a string course at third floor level and dentils above the third floor windows. Immediately below the dentilled eaves is a line of narrow windows. The Welsh slate roof is pyramidal. Loading doors appear on the east elevation at third and fourth floor levels, the upper one rising above the roof line. At the north front of the main block is a single-storey polygonal section with lanterns at two of the angles, mainly round-arched windows, and a flat roof behind a parapet.

Attached to the west side of Tower Mill is the single-storey gatehouse and office block. The central entrance has a heavily rusticated stone segmental archway with panelled pilasters, a balustraded parapet and a steep hipped roof. The date 1872 appears over the arch along with the name Dalton Mills. Office accommodation to either side and along the western side of Tower Mill has transomed segmental arched windows. An ornate narrow three-stage tower with a domed lantern at the top is set in an angle of this section, forming an entrance to the Tower Mill. To the rear of the entrance block are canted bays to each side, the one to the west extending to meet the eastern side of Genappe Mill. Beneath the archway are doorways into the offices.

Genappe Mill is a three-storey building extending east to west along the main frontage of the complex, 38 windows long and ten deep. On the north elevation facing the road, projecting bays at either end have narrow windows and a square lantern tower. At the centre is a four-bay projecting section with a lantern tower to each side of a steeply pitched roof with an ornate gablet. The ground floor of this section has two windows within a single segmental arch in rusticated stone with a flat canopy above. There are sixteen windows to either side of the central block; the ground floor windows have round heads, the first and second floor windows segmental heads, all with keystones and bands. The south elevation has a similar pattern, with the central block projecting further and having an entrance on the ground floor with a rusticated stone segmental archway. At the south-east corner is a square tower that rises for three stages above the mill roof, with two windows on each side and an enclosed water tank behind parapets above. Between the entrance block and the west end is a single-storey lean-to extension with round-headed windows and a basement floor. At the western end is a ruinous linking block, formerly two storeys, extending south and linking to New Mill.

Attached to the eastern end of Genappe Mill is a single-storey building, a former engine or boiler house. It has a pitched roof and two tall entrances on the south end, opposite a three-storey engine house. It has two round-arched and one segmental-arched window on its east side. At its north end is a hexagonal bay with a hipped roof and an entrance to Genappe Mill.

New Mill has three storeys and is 33 bays long, running parallel to Genappe Mill. The windows are similar to those of Genappe Mill but there is less elaboration and the second floor is lower. A central projecting section to the north faces the entrance to Genappe Mill and is matched by a tower projecting on the south side, which has a gabled roof over a large round window. Corner towers stand on the south-west and south-east corners. The rump of a linking block to buildings now demolished survives on the east end. On the north side are attached several rows of north-light sheds extending to each side of the central projecting bays.

Attached to the eastern end of New Mill and set forward is a former engine house. It has three storeys and four bays with a hipped roof. The ground floor is a basement with a small single-storey shed on the west end of the north elevation. The first floor has a decorative entrance portico at the east end of the north elevation, approached by steps to the side, with an adjacent round-arched window. A central round-arched loading door has two round-arched windows beyond. The second floor has square windows with ashlar architraves, above a raised band. There are tall round-arched windows on the east and west sides, divided by an inserted floor. At the north-west corner is a lower hipped roof section with a tall entrance facing north.

The chimney is encased in a square tower with an entrance on the south side. It rises in six stepped stages with raised bands and single slit windows on each stage, and a viewing balcony at the sixth stage. Above this, the chimney continues encased in a narrower square tower. Opposite, on the other side of the River Worth, is a stone gateway that originally formed one end of a footbridge from the owner's house directly to the chimney.

Opposite the eastern end of New Mill is a second former engine house. It has a hipped roof and two large windows to the west elevation. These have round-arched top sections above wide stone lintels, and retain original timber mullions and transoms, set in rusticated stone architraves with keystones. To the south is an attached low shed with a hipped roof and modern brick infill and metal sliding doors.

To the north is a low range extending almost to Tower Mill, with a series of east-west north-light sheds behind. Near the northern end of the range is a later two-storey building set in front (west) of the range.

On the ground floor of Tower Mill at the west end is a small reception area with an original fireplace. Stone steps lead to all floors and there is also an early 20th-century lift at the rear of the building. The ground floor retains iron columns with attachments for line shafting, those in the multi-storey section being larger with metal brackets supporting the overhead beams. The first and second floors have similar columns, while the third floor is an open space with slender steel roof trusses visible.

The interior of the entrance block is in use as offices and does not contain any features of note.

The interior of Genappe Mill is divided into two sections separated by a later inserted metal staircase. There are stone stairs at either end and a central toilet block on the north side. The ground and first floors have a double row of cast iron columns running down the centre of the floor, leaving a wide space to each side. The columns have linking transoms that carried the line shafting. In some areas the wooden floor has differential markings to show footways and machine bays. The second floor has a single row of supporting pillars, those in the eastern half with bracing struts to one side. The western end is partitioned and retains, extending from the partially absent ceiling, fragments of original wheels, shafting and pulleys. A metal stair rises to an attic floor with skylights and timber trusses. Extending along the western half of the ground floor on the south side is a single-storey extension housing the former mechanic's workshop. It contains a number of fixed machines including drills and saws, as well as workbenches and shelving.

The lower floor of New Mill was not accessed at inspection. The first floor has a double row of cast iron columns running down the centre of the floor, with linked transoms for line shafting. The second floor, which is open to the double pile roof structure, has a similar double row, but the transoms are highly decorative with pierced patterned metalwork. The roof has skylights and metal trusses; it was in poor condition at the time of inspection.

The basement floor of the first engine house was not accessed at inspection. The first floor consists of an open space with round-arched windows to the north side and the lower half of a large window to each side. At the west end, a corridor leads into New Mill and contains the remains of machinery for power transmission. The upper floor has the upper, round-arched portions of the side windows as well as windows to the north. The ceiling is composed of square sections of timber slats running in alternating directions, with metal cross beams that carry the remains of transmission lines. There is a central ventilator grille.

The small building to the south of the second engine house is used for storage and is open to the roof structure. The former engine house is used for storage, and the attached buildings to the north have been partly converted into offices and workshops. Cast iron columns with attachments for line shafting and original roof structures remain in the north-lights area. The front (west) range is an open space and has heavy timber roof trusses.