Minerva Needle Works

The following building shall be added:

ALCESTER SP0857 STATION ROAD 419-0/4/10000 (North East side) Minerva Needle Works

II Needlemaking factory. Circa 1880-5 for Alfred Allwood, needlemaker; C20 extension at rear. Red brick with terracotta dressings. Hipped Welsh slate roof with lead roll hips and crested ridge tiles. 2 small brick axial stacks. PLAN: Long and shallow 20-bay range with 2 short rear wings at either end, the righthand wing's SE return has a 5-bay front; the space between the rear wings has been infilled by a C20 extension. Italianate style. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys. 20-bay south west front with round-headed windows in recessed panels with enriched moulded terracotta imposts and heads and ramped cills. Also moulded terracotta eaves course. Multi-pane cast-iron windows. Central doorway with segmental arch. Righthand south east return is similar, but 5 bays and with round-headed doorway. At rear 2-bay wings to left and right, C20 extension between the wings and 3 bays to right. INTERIOR: Part of the rear wall of the main range has been demolished creating partly open plan on the ground and tint floors. HISTORY: William Allwood and his son Joseph were needlemakers in premises at Henley Street, Alcester, but here they employed outworkers for such stages in the manufacturing process as spitting and packeting and the scouring would have been done by another mill. The firm was so successful that in circa 1880-5 Joseph Allwood's son, Alfred, moved to this purpose-built factory in Station Road. It is believed that all the processes of needlemaking were done here. The needle's brand name was Minerva and the firm also produced hat-pins with glass birds on the end. In 1912 the premises were bought by Terry's Springs, makers of the Anglepoise lamp. SOURCE: Needlemakers and Needlemaking of Alcester, Sambourne and Studley Area, paper no.24; Alcester and District Local History Society; 1981.

Listing NGR: SP0857557637