Fletland Mills

Fletland Mills comprise warehouses, a mill, and office premises, originally built in the early 19th century, with subsequent enlargement in the mid-19th century and conversion to a hotel and restaurant around 1990. The buildings are constructed of brick in English and random bond, with dark red brick for the east and west ranges and orange brick for the central range. Stone detailing is present, and the roofs are slate-covered.

The complex consists of three parallel ranges of four storeys each, with gables facing the river. The western range has a two-storey office block at its northern end (facing the street). The street frontage features altered windows; the left return wall displays a blocked cart entrance with a glazing-bar sash window above, set within a cambered brick arch with a stone sill. The main ranges have alterations to their ground floors, with the left range partially obscured by a boiler house. The central block is open-fronted on the ground floor. The upper floors showcase segmental-arched windows. A wooden hoist cover remains at the top floor of the centre range, and an external stack is located in the centre of the right gable. The river frontage of the west range features blocked loading doors with cambered arches and hinge stones on each floor, as well as small windows on five tiers. The central range retains remnants of a hoist cover and large multi-pane windows. The right range has a wide, low elliptical-arched opening on each floor, incorporating key and top hinge stones, flanked by taller segmental-arched windows.

The interior of the ground floor was partially examined. In the western range, five cylindrical columns support cross beams of timber clasping a cast-iron beam, with closely-set joists on edge; the outer wall has been rebuilt beyond the original line. The central range incorporates re-used cylindrical cast-iron pillars. The east range has an elliptical archway, with stone details matching the river front, now opening into the central range; steel girders support the upper floors. The central range is a mid-19th century infill, designed to fill in the yard and wharf area between the earlier warehouses.

The wharf site dates back to at least the early 18th century, with a jetty shown on a 1725 map associated with Alderman Cookson’s garden. By 1770 the east side was built up, and by 1815, two parallel ranges flanked the wharf, which stood at the end of The Calls and the south end of a lane becoming Wharf Street. By 1831 Wharf Street was fully developed. A map from 1847 indicates the site of the office range was occupied. The central range was constructed between 1866 and 1887. The mills were operated by Palmer Bros by the 1850s and later belonged to Wright Bros, corn millers, in 1887.