Harris Bacon Factory Building At Town Mills

Probably dating to the 1850s, the Harris Bacon Factory building at Town Mills is likely an original canal warehouse, with extensions added in the early 20th century and later in the late 20th century. Constructed of limestone rubble with red brick window dressings, it has a slate roof with gabled ends.

The building comprises a long, rectangular range incorporating a putative engine house at the north end and early 20th-century smoking kilns at the south end. The west front, which faces the leat, is almost symmetrical, with seven bays over three storeys, plus a lower, one-bay, two-storey former engine house to the left. It features 2-light casements with horizontal glazing bars within cambered red brick arch openings. The ground floor has a wide doorway at the centre and a narrower doorway to the right, both with segmental brick arches, now blocked. The two-storey engine house at the north end has a 3-light casement on the ground floor, and a doorway to the left. A low red brick range is attached to the north end, and early 20th-century red brick smoking kilns are situated on the south end, with ventilators on the roof ridge.

The interior has not been inspected.

The building occupies the site of an earlier fulling or woollen mill and was constructed as a canal warehouse to transfer goods from the sea to canal craft, as well as for storage. The two-storey section at the north end may have been a water-powered engine house to drive a hoist.