Catherine Mill

This is a former fireproof flax mill, built in 1809 and located on Catherine Street, Whitehaven. It was initially listed as Barracks Mill and later as the Factory building of Dobson & Musgrave. The building is of national importance, considered to be one of the earliest mills to incorporate a central engine house and one of the few surviving fireproofed mills.

The mill is constructed of coursed limestone with renewed concrete pantiled gable-end roofs. It is a long range with a centrally-placed engine house, a notable feature marking an important stage in the development of textile mills. The building is four storeys high and comprises seven window bays to either side of a slightly projecting, pedimented central wing that houses the engine house. Two loading bays are asymmetrically placed. All windows are set beneath segmental arches with keystones and have renewed casements with glazing bars. Some ground-floor window openings have been altered. The central doorway has double doors with recessed panels, and the pedimented wing has a single window to each floor. A moulded stone cornice runs along the top. The end walls feature stone copings and an external stack. The left-hand return is rendered with three windows, where the openings have been narrowed in brick; the right return has two windows to each floor, treated similarly to the front, with those to the left lengthened to create loading bays. A window on the fourth floor is set within the stack. Blocked circular privy windows are present, two to each floor. The rear elevation shows the engine house projecting one window bay, with a tall, tapering external stack and a renewed brick top course. Windows match those to the front, though some have been altered.

The interior features a central rank of paired iron columns with a quatrefoil section, exhibiting lugs for line shafting and a cast-iron queen-strut roof. Transverse arches are located below the windows to distribute the load.

The mill’s design, plan, and section are discussed in detail in the publication ‘Industrial Archaeology and the RCHME; Industries Archaeology Review’ by K Falconer and R Thorne (1986).

A previous listing described the building as a large, long rectangular stone structure, four storeys high, with a new roof. It had 17 windows on each floor, a pediment over the middle three, and all windows with segmental heads. A square, tapering chimney was situated in the centre of the pediment on the west side, and a lower gabled wing was centrally located. This building was once used as barracks but was reportedly built between 1811 and 1829 as a linen mill.