Sawmill And Workshop Range And Drying Shed Darley Abbey Mills (South Complex)

A group of detached buildings forming the south-eastern corner of the extensive Darley Abbey Mills, a cotton textile factory built by the Evans family. The complex, which was partially in use as a small industrial estate when inspected, largely dates to the early 19th century, with enlargements in the mid-19th century and further alterations in the mid and late 20th centuries.

The buildings are constructed from gritstone with slate roofs, and brick with modern cladding. The range forms the southern boundary of the manufacturing complex, divided by Old Lane, and comprises a functionally related group of buildings, including a sawmill, workshop and drying shed.

The sawmill and workshop range is two storeys high and extends along the south-eastern perimeter of the site. The eastern section, of seven bays, has multi-paned cast iron windows with hinged central casements on its northern elevation, and a blank rear elevation. The taller, five-bay western building includes wide ground floor openings, a loading door, a variety of upper-floor windows, a hipped roof, and an external stone staircase on the west gable. Internally, the western range features a tall ground floor with transverse ceiling beams supported by fluted cast iron columns. Unwrought pine timbers, bolted to the beams and fitted with lifting rings, are also present. The first floor is constructed of 3-inch boards laid without joists, representing a form of fire-retarding construction.

The drying shed is a tall, L-shaped, single-storey structure. It is five bays by five bays and constructed of brick piers with light panel cladding, topped with a ventilated slate roof. It originally had slatted sides, as shown on the 1881 Ordnance Survey map.

The Darley Abbey complex provides an exceptional survival of a textile manufacturing site that operated as Boars Head Mills. It demonstrates important aspects of the development of fire-proofing technology in textile factories. Thomas Evans, of the Evans family, was an associate of Richard Arkwright and related by marriage to the Strutt family, placing Darley Abbey within a significant network of pioneer textile manufacturing sites in the Derwent Valley. The mills retain major early buildings and 19th-century additions, many notable for their iron roofs.