Grange Works

REDDITCH B GRANGE ROAD (east side) SP 0467 NE St George's 13/84 Grange Works

GV II

Includes No 75 (Grange House) Beoley Road (north side), St George's. Needlemill and fish hook and leather factory; now divided into spring factory and small units. Mid-C19. Red brick with yellow brick dressings; plain tiled roof; central and end ridge stacks with blue brick caps. Three storeys; impost band to ground and first floor; dentilled eaves cornice and pedimented gable ends. 6:2:5 bays; windows on ground and first floors have round heads; second floor windows have cambered heads; multi-paned metal windows with stone sills throughout; C20 door inserted into seventh bay. blind circular openings in gable ends. At rear central gabled wing projects from the central two bays; ground and first floor round-headed window, door inserted into round-headed opening to left; gable end is pedimented and con- tains a circular opening. At south gable end is a wing with a shallow pitched, partly hipped slate roof and two stacks to rear roof; two storeys with first floor impost band and dentilled eaves cornice; five bays; first floor windows are similar to those of main building; on ground floor is a blocked window and archway, both with cambered heads, and a C20 door. At south end the building returns to east as Grange House. brick with slate roof and end stacks. Two storeys with blue brick plinth and moulded eaves cornice. Three bays; outer bays of ground floor have canted bay windows with a modillion cornice; first floor windows have rusticated lintels; all windows have moulded architraves and have round-headed upper panes; mainly 6-pane sashes; central first floor window is a 4-pane sash; right first floor window has an inserted C20 cross-casement. Central entrance has an open pediment, engaged columns, a half-glazed door and a traceried fanlight. Wing adjoin- ing west gable end (and south end of mill range) has a shallow-pitched slate roof, hipped at end with central ridge stack; two storeys with moulded eaves cornice continuing from house; single bay; first floor has a 16-pane sash window with a rusticated lintel; door with cambered head and large double doors below. Elevation to Grange Road has a first floor multi-paned metal window with a cambered head. In the C19 the factory was known as Neptune Works, was occupied by W Smith and Sons, a manufacturer of mainly needles but who also produced fish hooks and leather goods. The mill and adjoining owner's house are well-detailed and survive in a relatively un-altered con- dition to form a compact and interesting group. (See also British Mills and No 80 (qv). [Needle District Almanack 1896-1900 (Trades Directory); N Land, A History of Redditch and the Locality, Brewin Books, 1984, p 34-50].

Listing NGR: SP0481567583