Description

SJ 9273
886-1/7/208

MACCLESFIELD
UNION ROAD (north side),
Union Mill

06/09/89

GV
II
Flour mill, disused at time of survey. c1830, when the Macclesfield Canal was constructed. Brick with Welsh slate roof partially replaced by flat roof following fire damage. Five storeys, 17 x 3 bays.

EXTERIOR: canal-side elevation: internal engine house to right marked externally by round-arched window running through two lower floors in bay 16. Former boiler house adjoins as a tall, single storeyed structure to right with round-headed window to gable wall. Corner circular section stack, on plinth but with cap missing, on right-hand angle over engine house bay. Windows in main body of mill largely renewed as casements in original openings, but original or early 36-pane sash windows survive in upper floor. Fourth bay (from left) formerly for loading, slightly recessed, with renewed windows replacing loading doors but retaining massive cast-iron lintels.

Canal branch enters at eighth bay with heavily rusticated round-headed arch. Two-window, two-storeyed range added to left. Coped gables each side, that to west raised in the form of a pediment to conceal ridge clerestory to roof. Clerestory formerly ran the length of the mill, but the roof structure over the eastern section was destroyed by fire c1970. Decorative brick eaves cornice and parapet throughout, with openwork iron brattishing. Central loading openings in eastern gable wall cut by two storeyed extension.

Rear (courtyard) elevation: regular fenestration with original small-paned sashes to upper floor, renewed two-pane casements elsewhere. Original loading bay visible at bay 14, and possible loading or fire doors in bays 7 and 8. Added lift shaft projects from centre.

INTERIOR: the mill is laterally divided by a fire-proof wall on each floor, separating different aspects of processing. Constructional technique in each part varies, with brick arches carried on two rows of cast-iron columns in the western section, timber beams carried on cast-iron columns to east. Eastern section has cast-iron brackets to columns, apparently to secure tension rods, some of which survive on lower floors, spanning the outer aisles of the mill between columns and external walls. Engine house bay to west also separated by fire-proof wall, and with brick arched ceiling construction. Queen-post roof structure over all, partially replaced over eastern section following fire.

The mill is a good example of a large processing unit integrated with the canal system. It became the first producer of the famous Hovis brand of flour in 1886, and was used as the tin and bag making works of Hovis after 1914.

Listing NGR: SJ9244073373

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26505448

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)