Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings: Cross Building

Heckling building of 1812 which may incorporate some late-C18 fabric; altered late C19. Part of a former flax mill designed by Charles Bage, and owned and operated by Marshall, Benyon and Bage. Constructed in two major phases of 1796-7 and between 1809 and 1812, with later additions and alterations. Converted and extended to a maltings in 1897-8; closed in 1987.

MATERIALS: iron-frame construction with walls of red ‘great’ (measuring approximately 100mm x 110mm x 240mm) and standard or common bricks under a roof of Welsh slate and corrugated sheeting.

PLAN: rectangular in plan and aligned west to east. It has a projecting five-storey stair block which has a link passage through to the Spinning Mill at its east end. It forms part of a group of attached buildings which developed sequentially, comprising the Spinning Mill, CROSS BUILDING and Flax Warehouse, and all subsequently linked by the addition of the late-C19 maltings Kiln.

EXTERIOR: a twelve-bay building of four storeys with an attic. There is a dentilled eaves cornice and a stone chamfered string course at first-floor level to both north and south elevations. The original pattern of windows to each of the bays on these elevations are evident, though two out of every three are completely blocked and the third is reduced in height and width and contains a late-C19 timber malting window. The south elevation of the east stair block has a ground-floor entrance and each of the upper floors contains a window, all under segmental-arched lintels. Its left return has a similar window arrangement, including one to the ground floor. The west gable end carries painted lettering: ‘Albrew Maltsters Limited Shropshire Maltings’ and has a number of blocked openings, most of which are only visible internally. The third floor of Cross Building was linked to the adjacent Flax Warehouse by a chain suspension bridge (removed) whose position corresponds with an opening containing a pair of timber doors towards the left-hand end of the north elevation.

INTERIOR: the principal access to each floor is from the east stair block. There are two rows of slender cast-iron columns on each floor which support three-piece floor beams and the shallow, brick jack arches which spring between the beams. The floors have a concrete screed, laid when the building was adapted to malting floors. Blockings in the east wall at second-floor level provide evidence for the power transmission system from the north engine house of the Spinning Mill. The cast-iron roof structure comprises two-piece trusses, purlins and short, T-section rafters which slot into the middle rank of purlins. The rafters are timber.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 2 March 2023 to amend the description.