A And B Mills

A and B Mills

Spinning mills built in 1841 and 1844, located at Dean Clough. These two mills are constructed in hammer dressed gritstone with ashlar dressings and slate roofs. They comprise six storeys and are aligned roughly east-west, originally facing south onto the mill dam (now the main car park), with Old Lane to the rear.

A Mill, to the east, is the earlier structure, completed in 1841. Its south-facing elevation features seven windows on either side of a three-window projecting bay. The projecting bay has a central line of double panelled taking-in doors set within continuous ashlar surrounds. This projecting wing extends two windows deep and displays a circular window in the pediment. A first floor band is inscribed with "A. 1841". To the right of the bay is a double height arched entrance which replaces the ground and first floor windows in the fourth and fifth bays. Further right is a wide window with raised segmental jambs on the ground and first floors, followed by a double height arched window also with raised segmental jambs spanning the second and third floors. These latter windows housed the former engine room and boiler house.

B Mill, to the west, continues the line with a further 17 windows, with the junction between the two mills marked by a raised gable. A similar three-bay projecting wing and a final seven windows create a symmetrical composition. The central four windows are topped by a pediment supported on brackets. B Mill's projecting wing bears a first floor band inscribed "B. 1844". The mill is abutted to the west by the later F Mill.

A four-storey ancillary block set back from the main structure, formerly a fire station, stands to the right of the main six-storey section. It features two double height arched entrances to the south (now glazed) with two floors of three windows above, fitted with small-paned glazing. The right return has a central row of double half-glazed taking-in doors with a small window in the gable above, supplemented by variously positioned windows with small-paned glazing.

The east elevation of A Mill, partially obscured by the fire station building, displays a range of variously altered windows, some blocked, and a Venetian window in the gable retaining original small-paned glazing. The north elevations of A and B Mills form a continuous row: from the east, 16 windows, followed by a projecting toilet block topped by a cast iron water tank, then 23 windows.

Internally, the ground and first floors of A Mill and the eastern half of B Mill are only half-depth, accommodating the rising ground to the north. Both mills share similar construction. The floors are timber, supported by a line of cast iron columns at near mid-span with an interval of 8 feet (2.4 metres), creating 17 bays in A Mill and 27 in B Mill. No machinery survives.

Historically, the Crossley family began worsted spinning and dyeing operations at Dean Clough in 1802, initially at a water-powered mill leased from the Waterhouse family in 1822. The mill dam was formed from a leat drawing water from Hebble Brook to the south. From 1841 onwards, the Crossley family initiated construction of a series of engine-powered spinning mills and weaving sheds for carpet manufacture, for which they became renowned.

A Mill was the first structure erected by the Crossley family at Dean Clough in 1841, designed as a spinning mill for carpet production. It was excavated out of the slope to the north, utilising the quarried stone in its construction. B Mill followed in 1844, adjoining A Mill to the west and more than doubling production capacity. Originally designated "Centre Mills, 1 and 2", the two mills were renamed with their current letters in 1855.

Subsequent development through the 19th and 20th centuries included power weaving sheds and further spinning mills with associated buildings. Carpet production finally ceased in 1982 following a gradual decline after the merger of John Crossley & Sons with Carpet Trade Holdings and the Carpet Trades Manufacturing Company of Kidderminster. A and B Mills retain significant original features including fenestration, taking-in doors, and cast iron columns, surviving in largely original condition with minimal alteration.