Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings: Apprentice House

Former apprentice house of c1811 with late-C19 and C20 alterations. 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: constructed of red brick, with brick and stone dressings under a Welsh slate roof with brick stacks. The fenestration consists of mullioned and transomed windows to the two lower floors and sashes to the upper, all with stone cills and brick heads. The windows are boarded and the timber door pediments have been removed for conservation (2015).

PLAN: rectangular on plan and aligned west-east. It was originally laid out with a house for the Superintendent at the east end and accommodation for apprentices to the remainder.

EXTERIOR: a three-storey building with attics and cellar. It is gabled to its west and east elevations; the gables taking the form of a pediment framed by a stone band and coping. The east gable has a central entrance with a window to either side, and three windows to both the first and second floors; the west end has a doorway at ground- and first-floor levels, the latter formerly accessed from a staircase (removed), and there is a narrow window to each floor, except to the second floor which has two. The north and south elevations have a dentilled eaves cornice. The south elevation has window openings of varying widths under brick segmental heads and the pattern of fenestration reflects the division of the building into two units. There is a ground-floor doorway to the right of centre and an inserted door to its right within a former window. The opposing, north, elevation is of a similar form, though there are fewer windows to each floor of the Superintendent’s house.

INTERIOR: partially inspected, 2015. The doorway to the Superintendent’s house opens onto a hall which gives access to the principal reception rooms to the north and south, and via the stairs to the upper storeys. The northern room was the principal dining room, serviced by a kitchen to the west. The ground floor to the rest of the building probably contained a refectory, served by a kitchen in the basement, and perhaps a schoolroom. The upper floors provided dormitory accommodation. Each floor was divided longitudinally into two halves by a central spine wall and there is a corridor running on the long axis.

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