E Mill

E Mill

A spinning mill built in 1857 by Roger Ives for Crossley and Sons, located at Dean Clough in Halifax. The building is constructed in hammer-dressed stone with ashlar dressings.

The mill is aligned north-south, four bays wide, with 24 windows across eight storeys plus a basement. The exterior features a modillion cornice and parapet defined by pilaster strips. On the east side, a centrally placed lavatory tower rises through the full height, displaying paired round-arched openings on each floor set within a giant blind arch repeated on each face. The cornice and parapet continue around the tower, which is topped by a water tank in a further stage with two round-arched openings on each side, an additional cornice, and a pyramidal roof with ball finial. The date 1857 is displayed on the outer face of this top stage.

The ground floor on the east side incorporates a single-storey extension. This extends six windows eastwards at the south end with a flat roof supporting a later bridge connecting to D Mill; the eastern end features a single round-arched window. The remainder of the extension is lower with a separate pitched roof running north-south, containing five windows at the southern end followed by a vehicle entrance. The northern section is a later addition with a corrugated iron upper section and an open front to the east. At the south end is an iron fire escape running from the top to the first floor. The north end has taking-in doors on each floor with two windows to the left and one to the right, and an entrance on the ground floor to the left. Some windows have been altered and most are reglazed.

A long covered entrance tunnel extends from the north end of the west side, leading downward to an arched basement doorway. At the outer end is a two-storey block with two paired first-floor windows and five ashlar piers below supporting steel beams, the openings between fitted with metal grill gates. The entrance to the west is open on the ground floor with a two-light window above. The wall is blind to the south and features a series of low arches to the north.

The interior has been converted to offices, but evidence of the original fireproof construction method remains visible in the double rows of cast iron columns supporting brick arches, though these are largely hidden by false ceilings. The basement area beneath the eastern extension and below the roadway between E and D Mills has been converted into a theatre. It incorporates the original cobbled roadway at this lower level that formerly separated D Mill from buildings to the west. The upper roadway, likely dating to the mid-19th century, is supported on substantial stone arches and retains tracks of a rail line that formerly ran from a tunnel under Old Lane through the site. A collection of steel plates for drops, labelled with sandstone and limestone variants, are aligned within the rail tracks.

The building was designed by Halifax architect Roger Ives, who began working for Dean Clough in the 1850s, with D Mill being his first building there. The mill was powered by an internal engine in the south-east corner, with a boiler house immediately to the east feeding a chimney to the north against a retaining wall to Old Lane.

The site has a longer industrial history: John Crossley leased a water-powered mill at Dean Clough from the Waterhouse family in 1822, though the Crossley family had been carrying out worsted spinning there since 1802. The mill stood at the eastern end of a mill dam formed from a leat from Hebble Brook to the south. The original 1792 mill was demolished to make way for E Mill. From 1841 onwards, the Crossley family began building a series of engine-powered spinning mills and weaving sheds at Dean Clough for carpet manufacture, for which they became famous.

Further mills, sheds and associated buildings were constructed throughout the 19th century and continued developing into the 20th century, finally ending in 1982 when carpet production ceased following a gradual run-down after John Crossley & Sons merged with Carpet Trade Holdings and the Carpet Trades Manufacturing Company of Kidderminster. The building is now in office use.