Bell Mill, Stanley Mills

Bell Mill, part of the Stanley Mills complex, was designed by Sir Richard Arkwright, possibly with assistance from surveyor James Stobie, and built between 1786 and 1787. Millwright work was undertaken by Lowe of Nottingham. It is a five-story cotton-spinning mill with a basement, originally comprising a three-by-twelve bay arrangement. The mill is primarily brick-built, with stone cills and segmental arched windows. The ground floor and basement are constructed from rubble, featuring square-headed windows and ashlar string courses.

The west elevation is twelve bays wide, with the three bays slightly advanced and gabled, topped with a flat apex. The right-most bay is a latrine tower featuring a small window added at the second floor level. The left-most bay is more widely spaced. Facing east, the twelfth bay is also more widely spaced. A gangway connecting to Mid Mill was added around 1830, supported by a cast-iron framework with T-section beams and joists, columns, weatherboarding, and vertically glazed basement windows.

The north gable is five stories high, with the centre bay blind except for a ground-floor doorway and a fourth-floor window. An oculus is present at the fifth floor level, along with projecting skewputts. A hexagonal bellcote with a steep lead roof, now supported by steel, holds a ship weathervane. The south gable features a projecting bowed stairtower on the right, originally topped with a roof tank (early 19th century), which has been recently replaced with a brick parapet. Curved windows are incorporated into the stairtower. Single-lights are present on the left side, alongside an oculus. A lean-to extension at ground floor level has rubble-built segmental arched windows with a lean-to roof above a belt dressing machine.

A single-story brick addition to the west wing was constructed in two stages: circa 1900 with a timber roof, and circa 1920 with a steel roof. While not particularly noteworthy, the later addition sits upon the foundations, lade, wheel-pit, and tail-race of an earlier 18th-century corn mill.

The roof is slate, originally with single skylights, now covered with a long slate run. Windows are sash and case with a 16-pane glazing pattern.

Internally, the upper three floors retain their original 18th-century configuration, with timber floors and transverse beams (bracing joists close to the gables) supported by a central row of cruciform columns. These columns are 24/27mm in section, 2240mm high, with a flared top expanding from 108mm to 260mm, and incorporating a 95mm slot for transmission brackets. The columns are spaced 2060mm apart, running lengthwise on the lower floors and crosswise on the top floor, supported by two timber posts. The roof structure is a collar-beam design, originally floored. The ground and first floors were combined in the 19th century, featuring cylindrical columns with low bearing pads. Basement columns date to the 19th century on the south side of the East Mill. The north part is likely to contain evidence relating to power take-off from an external waterwheel. A timber spiral staircase with generous landings provides access to the Mid Mill; a T-section cast-iron beam (likely from the early 19th century) formerly supported a water tank. Adjacent to the staircase is a belt dressing machine, made from timber and iron over an iron bitumen tank, used for "Stanley Solid Woven Cotton Belting" and dating from circa 1990.

A sluice chamber, constructed from ashlar with wrought iron railings, is located to the west of the mill.