Leavers Machine Shed At Draycott Mills

The Leavers machine shed at Draycott Mills is a cotton spinning mill that has been converted into a lace factory, dating from around 1840 to 1850. It features fireproof construction using brick and cast iron, with rubbed brick and ashlar dressings. The building has a flat roof behind a coped parapet and is single storey with a layout of four by two bays.

On the north and south sides, there are four segment-arched cast iron glazing bar casements set within segment-arched recesses that have rubbed brick heads. The northeast window has been replaced by late 20th-century double doors. The east end of the shed adjoins the engine house of the front range, while the west end has two blank recesses.

Inside, the shed contains two transverse cast iron beams that support brick jack arches in the center, with three lengthwise beams at each end carrying smaller jack arches. There are eight evenly spaced square skylights with cast iron frames and three cast iron columns along the center line, which have bolting faces for a lineshaft to run transversely. The flat roof is said to have previously served as a water reservoir.

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