Cotton spinning mill, office block and remains of engine house etc at Draycott Mills

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SK 43 SW 1194-/3/10005

DRAYCOTT & CHURCH WILNE MARKET STREET (west side) Cotton spinning mill, office block and remains of engine house etc. at Draycott Mills

GV II

Cotton spinning mill, office block, remains of engine house, and attached outbuilding. Now lace factory and sheet metal works. c1840-1850. Fireproof construction, brick and cast iron, with rubbed brick and ashlar dressings. Flat roof behind coped parapet. Single storey, approx. 7 x 12 bays. Office block at east end, two storeys, two bays, with moulded cornice and blocking course. Two full height recesses, each with a round arched cross casement on the first floor, with moulded heads and linked impost band. Ground floor covered by mid C20 additions with doors. At the north east corner, roofless remains of an external engine house, with evidence of a beam engine.

North and south sides have 12 segment arched cast iron glazing bar casements, some blocked or replaced by doors. These are set in segment arched recesses with rubbed brick heads. In the centre of the north side, an attached outbuilding, brick with slate roof, two storeys plus a lower addition to north.

Interior has in the centre five lengthwise cast iron beams carrying brick jack arches and braced by crosswise tie rods. Side bays have smaller beams carrying crosswise jack arches. Evenly spaced square skylights with cast iron frames. Six rows of round cast iron columns flanking a central aisle, with moulded caps and bolting faces for lineshaft to run lengthwise. These faces are set towards the outer walls. The building is divided by a cross wall in the sixth bay, with rounded brick piers. The piers are spanned by a cast iron beam with a connecting bracket and lineshaft fittings on the centre line. At the east end, the office block has four large glazing bar sashes at first floor level, overlooking the mill. The flat roof is said fonnerly to have been used as a water reservoir.

This building is part of an integrated works for the manufacture of cotton yarn and lace. This type of fireproof construction is rare outside the cotton spinning districts of Greater Manchester. Single storey fireproof buildings are extremely rare; the survey of Cotton Mills in Greater Manchester recorded only two.

Listing NGR: SK4420533179