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

A cotton spinning mill, office block, and remnants of an engine house with associated outbuildings, dating to approximately 1840-1850. The complex, now used as a lace factory and sheet metal works, is constructed using fireproof methods with brick and cast iron, featuring rubbed brick and ashlar dressings. It has a flat roof concealed behind a coped parapet. The main mill building is single-storey, approximately 7 by 12 bays. An office block is positioned at the east end, rising to two storeys and two bays, displaying a moulded cornice and blocking course. The office block includes two full-height recesses, each with a round-arched cross casement on the first floor, with moulded heads and a linked impost band; the ground floor is obscured by mid-20th century additions containing doors. At the northeast corner stand roofless remains of an external engine house, which shows evidence of a beam engine.

The north and south sides have twelve segment-arched cast iron glazing bar casements, some blocked or replaced with doors, set within segment-arched recesses with rubbed brick heads. An attached outbuilding, constructed of brick with a slate roof, is found in the centre of the north side, extending two storeys, with a lower addition to the north.

The interior demonstrates a central row of five lengthwise cast iron beams supporting brick jack arches and braced by crosswise tie rods. Side bays contain smaller beams carrying crosswise jack arches. Evenly spaced square skylights with cast iron frames are present. Six rows of round cast iron columns flank a central aisle, each with moulded caps and bolting faces for a lineshaft to run lengthwise; these faces are directed towards the outer walls. A cross wall in the sixth bay divides the building, supported by rounded brick piers spanning a cast iron beam with a connecting bracket and lineshaft fittings along the centre line. The office block features four large glazing bar sashes on the first floor, overlooking the mill. The flat roof was formerly used as a water reservoir.

The complex formed part of an integrated manufacturing facility producing cotton yarn and lace. This type of fireproof construction is notable for its rarity outside the cotton spinning districts of Greater Manchester, and single-storey fireproof buildings are exceptionally rare, with surveys of cotton mills in Greater Manchester recording only two examples. The building exhibits stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops.