40 St Michael's Lane and attached buildings to the rear and north-west

This group comprises a substantial main building on St Michael's Lane together with several adjoining ranges to the rear and north-west, representing the accumulated structures of industrial premises spanning from the late 18th century through to the late 20th century.

The principal building, 40 St Michael's Lane, is constructed of coursed, hammer-dressed stone rubble beneath corrugated metal sheeting. It forms a rectangular block of three storeys with an attic, facing west across the road. A narrow two-storey brick addition extends to the rear.

The east elevation to the main building displays five bays. The ground floor contains a tall segmental-headed carriageway opening with stone voussoirs positioned at the far left, with a symmetrical arrangement of openings to the right: an entrance to bay two (partly blocked and replaced with a two-light casement), a three-light casement to bay three, an entrance to bay four, and a three-light casement to bay five. These are 19th-century insertions. The upper two floors each feature late-18th-century three-light casements to alternate bays, with the first-floor window to the left-hand bay blocked and partly obscured by the carriageway. All window openings have splayed lintels of dressed stone.

The rear two-storey addition dates from the late 18th or early 19th century. Its ground-floor openings have been altered or blocked, with modern double doors inserted in a widened central opening, while the first floor retains multi-pane casements. All openings have gauged brick lintels. A lead rainwater hopper marks the junction between this addition and the adjacent north range.

Internally, the ground floor of 40 St Michael's Lane contains a stone flag floor and slim cast-iron columns support the upper floors. Large axial beams span the building; those to the first and second floors are chamfered with simple run-out stops. The second floor incorporates slender steel uprights to carry floors above, and a large timber trap door opens onto the carriageway below. The attic displays exposed roof timbers including A-frame principal rafters with two rows of staggered butt purlins to each side. The carriageway provides access to the rear of the building and contains a doorway in its north wall leading to the upper floors, above which is a loading door.

The rear ranges formerly part of Ewens and Turner's works comprise two long narrow ranges orientated west-east, separated by a former open walk. The south range features north-light roofs and is predominantly single storey except at its western end, where a former open ground-floor space beneath a first-floor building carried on steel girders has been infilled with concrete blockwork and a window. A 1929 plan identifies parts of this range as a carpenter's shop, balling and spooling facility, and twine drying area; the western section, originally a tarring shed and coal store, was partially rebuilt in 1935–36. Internally, asymmetrical roof trusses rest on brick and concrete block pillars along the north side. Attached to the west end is a late-19th-century two-storey stone rubble building shown as a store on the 1929 plan, with blocked window and door openings to its south elevation and large arched openings to each gable. The western arch is partly obscured by a later lean-to; the eastern arch has been blocked. The north elevation formerly had closely-spaced cast-iron windows at first floor (possibly for workshop use) but these have been replaced with uPVC fenestration.

Across the former open walk stands a late-19th-century two-storey north range or covered walk. Its ground floor contains fourteen shallow brick relieving arches with a timber rail running the length, each archway accommodating blocked openings with inserted shallow windows and doorways. First-floor fenestration consists largely of three-light timber windows, with a loading door left of centre and a blocked example toward the east end. The westernmost two bays are single storey with an inserted window and entrance in the end gable. The interior ground floor has been subdivided with blockwork partitions; the concrete floor is modern, though previously set with cast-iron rails or tracks. The visible roof displays principal collared trusses strengthened with metal ties.

To the north extend a series of parallel ranges and former walks dating from the late 19th to early 20th century, built of brick and stone rubble incorporating the walls of earlier rope or spinning walks. All now interconnect. The central ranges have timber roof trusses supported in places by slender cast-iron columns. At their eastern end these ranges rise to two storeys; at the west end is attached a flat-roofed, two-storey addition of the mid-20th century (known as the Lilliput Building) with modern windows and central entrance. This late addition is not of special interest.