Warehouse Of Haarlem Mill At The South West Side Of Haarlem Mill

The Warehouse of Haarlem Mill

A tape weaving mill of the mid and late 19th century and early 20th century, standing to the south west of Haarlem Mill on the modest River Ecclesbourne. The building is constructed of coursed stone rubble and red brick with a gabled, slate-covered roof. The north section of the west elevation and the south gable are of coursed rubble stonework.

The warehouse is rectangular in plan, with the southern section marginally wider than that to the north. A small two-storey block is attached to the centre of the west side.

The main elevation rises three storeys high and extends 17 bays in length. It is faced with brick upon a plinth of stone to the north and blue brick to the south. The window openings have simple segmental heads and brick sills, containing six over five small-paned iron frames, most with a four-pane square opening light. A vertical straight joint marks the division between the mid 19th-century building and its early 20th-century addition to the south, corresponding to a change in the colour and surface finish of the brickwork.

At the north east corner, between this range and Haarlem Mill, stands a linking range and a single-storey service building constructed largely of timber and sheet panelling. The single-storey building may have been associated with the insertion of a gas engine in 1906; a building now lost is evidenced only by markings on the east wall.

Interior: The floors are open save for the ground floor, which contains inserted partitions creating offices. Construction comprises traditional timber floors on timber bridging beams, those in the southern addition notably deeper. The southern beams are carried on piers at the walls. At the north end, each floor holds a fireplace on the west side; that of the upper floor is bricked up. These fireplaces likely formed part of a ventilation system, evidenced by small covered openings in the walls at ceiling level. The roof trusses are queen post, carrying a single rank of trenched purlins. The original end wall of the north section is visible at attic level, broken through when the south section was added. The north wall was removed when the north extension was constructed. The north end of the attic contains 19th-century timber partitioning with doors for storage, and a surviving section of drive shafting against the east wall. Access through the floors is by two modern metal staircases, one to the north and one to the south.

History: The Haarlem Mill complex stands on the River Ecclesbourne. The industrialist Richard Arkwright leased the site in 1777 and by 1780 had built Haarlem Mill, described as a very early, if not the earliest, factory building designed to house a steam engine in association with cotton spinning. The warehouse was sold in 1792 and converted in 1815 for tape weaving, reportedly for Maddley Hackett and Riley, smallware manufacturers of Derby. The name Haarlem Mill was acquired after a works in Derby of similar name established in 1806. Silk weaving was carried on in part of the site in the 1820s. The complex subsequently passed through several hands until purchased by the Wheatcroft family, local tape manufacturers, in 1858. The mill manager at this time was Samuel Evans, uncle of the novelist George Eliot (1818–1890), who is thought to have based the characters Adam Bede and Dinah Morris in her novel 'Adam Bede' (1859) on her uncle and aunt, and to have used Haarlem Mill as the inspiration for the mill in 'The Mill on the Floss' (1860).

The central six bays of this warehouse range were erected in the mid 19th century, constructed of coursed rubble stone with the west elevation surviving. The east elevation is a refacing of brickwork contemporary with a northern extension, thought to date to 1881 and not appearing on the Ordnance Survey map of 1880. A southern addition, almost doubling the length of the building, was added between 1900 and 1922 according to map evidence, along with the two-storey west side block. Its construction may have formed part of works including the installation of a Crossley gas engine in 1906. The Wheatcrofts remained owners in 1906. Drawings held at the National Monuments Record Centre show that the gas engine house was erected against the warehouse wall and against the north side of a small engine house from which the warehouse was driven.

The mill pond, which formerly extended close to the north side of the mill, has since been pushed much further northwards to make room for a mid 20th-century industrial building to the north and a car park.