Description

GRIMSBY

TA2708NE CONVAMORE ROAD
699-1/28/27 (West side)
10/04/95 Grimsby Cordage Mill
(Formerly Listed as:
COVAMORE ROAD
Grimsby Cordage Mill)

II

Cordage mill, for manufacture of twine and nets. 1899,
extended 1908 with later minor alterations. For the Grimsby
Cordage Co. Red brick in English bond with terracotta
dressings. Welsh slate roofs with glazed panels, concrete
tiles to southernmost section.
PLAN: elongated rectangle on plan, approximately 200m long,
aligned north-south.
EXTERIOR: main central manufacturing hall is a tall
single-storey building, 41 internal bays long and 3 bays wide,
beneath a triple-span north-light roof, with a main side
entrance to the east.
South end has 2 tall gabled ranges at right angles to the main
hall, and north has 2 gabled ranges in line with main hall,
with main entrances to NW, terminating in single-storey office
range. Attached to west side at either end are gabled
extensions with minor C20 lean-to additions between. East
front onto alley behind Convamore Road terraced houses. From
left 2 gabled ranges with 1 and 3 windows, a 3-window section
of main hall, a main entrance bay, projecting 17-window
section to main hall, and taller 3-window and 7 window
sections to far right. Gabled section to far left has single
door with a tall segmental-headed window above with shaped
terracotta sill, 2-course header brick arch and iron glazing
bars. Slightly taller gabled section to right has 3 stepped
windows with similar details, oculus in gable with radial
glazing bars, and terracotta coped gables and parapet to
right.
To right, 3-window section of main hall, with small 3-paced
segmental-headed windows with similar sills and arches.
Entrance bay breaking forward has cart entrance with board
door beneath terracotta segmental arch with hood mould and
carved stop plus flush impost band. Above to each side, an
oculus in rubbed brick surround with elongated keystones,
beneath terracotta frieze with raised lettering - GRIMSBY
CORDAGE COMPANY LTD - modillioned cornice and coped parapet.
To right, projecting section of main shed has small 3-pane
segmental headed windows with sills, stepped eaves and steeply

pitched roof with continuous glazed panel and coped gable to
left. 3 small contemporary lean-to additions. Next right, 2
taller sections with tapered pilaster buttresses, the first
section with single door and 3 windows, the next slightly
lower, with 7 windows, and incorporating the base of former
chimney that breaks eaves line. Exposed rafter ends, coped
gable to right. To right, lower single-storey section with
coped parapet. North front has 3 windows.
Twin gabled symmetrical section to right with rounded corner
and quoins. Low central 3-pane window flanked by larger triple
sashes with glazing bars to upper sashes and single panes
below, in terracotta surrounds with quions, deep chamfered
reveals and dripmoulds. Gables have flush bands, moulded
coping and segmental pedimented heads. Cast-iron rainwater
head inscribed - GCC 19OO. To left coped parapeted section
with glazing bar sash in deep chamfered reveal, and blocked
segmental headed waggon entrance with terracotta arch.
Taller gabled section behind has coped gable, shaped at the
apex, with a central oculus with glazing bars in a voussoired
surround with hood-mould; flush band above, linking a pair of
projecting stacks with square-section shafts, prominent bands
and caps.

West side: single-storey, single-window range to left has
similar glazing-bar sash to north front in a terracotta
surround with quoins and moulded reveal. To right, a recessed
part-glazed panelled door and 3-pane overlight. Taller range
to right has 4 bays divided by tapering pilaster buttresses.
First bay has part-glazed panelled door with plain overlight;
second and fourth bays have segmental headed cart entrances
with rusticated terracotta voussoirs, the entrance to left
blocked with an inserted C20 casement, the right entrance with
board door; C20 casement to third bay.
Roof with coped gables, projecting rafter ends; roof to lower
left range projects on brackets to form a hood to the 2 office
doors.
Single-storey range set forward to right, 6 windows long.
North gable end has segmental-arched cart entrance with
rusticated voussoirs, keyed oculus and coped gable. West side
has small 3-pane segmental-arched windows with moulded sills,
projecting section to right with a sliding board door flanked
by single similar windows, stepped eaves.
Next right is main manufacturing hall with similar windows and
eaves details to east side.
Roof hipped to left, with 5 tall metal ventilators with low
pyramidal caps.
Series of later C20 lean-to additions with a variety of doors
and casement windows, and incorporating a 4-bay open shelter

carried on plain piers.
Next right, adjoining the south-west side of main hall, is
long single-storey gabled range in 5 staggered sections of
various lengths, becoming progressively slightly taller and
wider to right.
3 sections to the left have windows arranged 2:4:2: the window
to the far left partly blocked, the remainder tall with iron
glazing bars and rounded brick sills beneath segmental arches.
The fourth section with a single similar window, 4 small
inserted windows and a segmental-headed cart entrance with a
sliding door and 2 segment arched 3-pane windows. Stepped
eaves, coped gables, 2 sections with roof lights.
West side terminates in gable-ends of the 2 taller southern
ranges set back to the right, the southernmost with a
segmental waggon roof door below 3 stepped segmental arched
windows with late C20 blocking. Adjoining gabled range to left
has oculus in gable, and coped parapet to left.

INTERIOR: main manufacturing hall has pilaster buttresses
between bays, and windows in alternate bays. At south end of
west side is an arcade of 7 segmental-headed arches: 5
blocked, one open to the south-west extension, another open to
the main west door. Concrete floor to manufacturing-hall
incorporating short sections of rails, for trolleys. Good
triple-span boarded roof carried on cast-iron pillars, with
king-post trusses in pitch pine. Early photographs show the
pillars were used for attching twine for net-making.

HISTORY: the Cordage Company was created by the Cosalt Co,
whose concerns also included the net workshop beside the
Victor Street Fisher Lads Home and Orphanage (qv) and the
Waterproof Clothing Co factory in Robinson Street (qv).
The factory illustrates the importance of Grimsby as the
world's foremost fishing centre in the late C19 and early C20.
This was one of the largest purpose-built cordage mills in
England, at that time, designed specifically for the
production of twine and nets. The building makes an
interesting comparison with earlier twine and rope production
buildings like the famous C18 Ropery further up the Humber
River at Barton-on-Humber. Building partly disused at time of
survey.
Formerly listed in error as being situated on Covamore Road.

Listing NGR: TA2785308894

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26659669

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)