Summary

Woollen textile mill. 9 bays of main spinning mill building and lower part of short NW wing, engine/boiler house, and chimney 1863. Main spinning mill building doubled to 18 bays 1865, separate office building on Oldham Road c1865. Short wing and stair tower heightened 1871. Warehouse to west later C19. Warehouse fronting Oldham Road early C20. Later-C20 weaving shed, alterations and extensions.

Description

Woollen textile mill. 9 bays of main spinning mill building and lower part of short NW wing, engine/boiler house, and chimney 1863. Main spinning mill building doubled to 18 bays 1865, separate office building on Oldham Road c1865. Short wing and stair tower heightened 1871. Warehouse to west later C19. Warehouse fronting Oldham Road early C20. Later-C20 weaving shed, alterations and extensions.

MATERIALS: Coursed, squared sandstone, corrugated steel sheeting to roofs (formerly slate), brick to interiors.

PLAN: the spinning mill is aligned north-east, south-west (originally parallel to the railway line) with a rectangular plan in two builds under a three-span roof, and a short wing and stair tower at the west corner (C20 extension to the north-east end). The engine and boiler house and circular chimney are situated adjacent to the south-west end of the mill. Adjacent and parallel to Oldham Road on the north side of the site is a rectangular office building over a basement and a separate warehouse building with an angled elevation on the inner, yard side. On the west side of the site is an approximately square warehouse under a three-span roof attached to an offset approximately square three-light weaving shed on its south side, with a small trapezoid reservoir on their south-west and north-west sides.

EXTERIOR
Mill: the spinning mill is four storeys high, eighteen window bays in length with a straight joint bisecting the elevations into two builds of nine bays, and six window bays deep under three gables of a triple-span roof. Two square windows to each floor form vertically continuous fenestration separated only by monolithic, rock-faced sills and lintels. The exception is the ground floor on the north-west elevation, which due to the slope of the land has a dug-out area with a retaining wall and single, deeper, rectangular windows. The windows are of six panes in timber frames, some with tilting casement openings. On the north-west elevation (facing Oldham Road) between the eighth and ninth bays at second-floor level is a stone plaque inscribed 1871 1863 1865. On the south-west elevation between the tenth and eleventh bays at second-floor level is a stone plaque with BAILEY. in relief lettering. Towards the right-hand end of north-west elevation is a short wing which projects three bays and is two bays deep. A change in the stone coursing and the windows indicate that it was raised from two to four storeys with a mono-pitch roof. The lower windows are similar to those in the main building being square with six-pane timber framed windows and rock-faced sills and lintels. The north-west end elevation has a window and doorway. The two upper floors are built with larger blocks of stone with a single, deeper window on each floor with smooth-cut monolithic sills and lintels. The windows are of nine panes in timber frames, some with tilting casement openings. The south-west side elevation is blind and abuts the stair tower to its right. The stone coursing indicates that the stair tower originally rose to the roof height of the mill and was then raised to support a water tank. There are three taking-in doors in the north-west elevation.

At the south-west end of the mill is an original two-storey, lean-to structure with stonework which courses through from the main south-east elevation; its roof is now missing. It has a doorway and window with monolithic stone lintels in the south-east elevation, both now blocked. At the north-east end of the mill a fire escape has been inserted in the third bay. A flat-roofed, two-storey extension has been built against the lower floors. It is built in pier and panel construction, faced in coursed stonework with floor-to-ceiling panels of glazing. The windows are nine-pane in timber frames. The north corner is chamfered and the right-hand bay of the north-west elevation has an extra storey. Built alongside the area on the north-west side and abutting the north-east elevation of the short wing, is a single-storey modern structure of unknown use with stone cladding to the north-west elevation, brick walls elsewhere and a shallow, mono-pitch roof of corrugated asbestos sheeting.

Engine house, boiler house, coal shed and chimney: located at the west end of the mill form a group single-storey buildings which cluster around the base of the circular chimney. On the north-west side is a taller building with two equal double-pitched roofs covered in corrugated asbestos sheeting. The right-hand half of the north-west elevation has a wide doorway and adjacent window. On the south-east side is a lower building now in a partially ruinous state which is divided in two by a brick spine wall. The right-hand side originally abutted the side elevation of the lean-to structure, but the front wall and roof covering of this section is now missing and a modern, circular, metal tank has been placed on the line of the front wall. The left-hand side has a partially collapsed roof covering. A large opening has been inserted under a rolled steel joist in the south-east elevation. The exterior side elevation has two deep windows with nine-pane glazing and a wide doorway at the left-hand end. The circular chimney is built of stone with metal straps up to two-thirds the height terminating at a moulded band, with brick above, with a cornice.

Office fronting Oldham Road: the office building is single storey on the road side with a basement level on the yard side due to a fall in the land. It is rectangular with a hipped roof. The north-west, road-side elevation is of nine bays in a symmetrical composition. The central three bays project slightly under a triangular pediment, and the elevation has a chamfered plinth, plain impost band, and string course. The windows and doorways in the seventh and ninth bays are round-headed in an arcaded design, with moulded imposts to the windows in the centre, and a small, round-headed window in the pediment above (all boarded). Abutting the left-hand end is a coursed stone boundary wall with curved coping stones. The right-hand return has a round-headed doorway approached by a full-width ramp due to the fall in land towards the mill on the south side. The left-hand return is blind. The yard-side rear elevation has three equally spaced, rectangular windows to the centre, with a similar single window to the left and a pair of narrow windows to the far right. The larger windows have two-over-two pane hung sashes and the narrower windows have one-over-one pane hung sashes. The basement level beneath has a similar single window to each side of a wide central opening with a rolled steel joist lintel supported at its midpoint by a stone pier.

Warehouse fronting Oldham Road: the warehouse is single storey on the road side with a basement level on the yard side due to a fall in the land with a partial attic storey at the north-east end. It is wedge-shaped with an angled east, yard-side corner with a double-pitched roof. The north-west, road-side elevation is of nine bays. The eight deep rectangular windows have monolithic stone lintels and slightly projecting sills (the windows are boarded). The wide doorway in the ninth bay has a rolled steel joist lintel. The right-hand return has stone coping to the gable. It has a taking-in door in the gable. The left-hand return has a curved left-hand corner and an irregularly-shaped gable. On the right-hand side is a doorway reached by a flight of stone steps with a stone balustrade with shaped coping stones. In the centre is a large, rectangular window with a nine-pane timber window frame, and a similar window beneath. On the left-hand side are two small windows with two-pane timber casements. Above at attic level are four small windows with two-pane timber casements. The angled wall has a small gablet towards the left-hand end, now partially obscured by a later-C20 enclosed bridge linking the building to the wing of the main mill building. It has four rectangular windows, three with nine-pane frames and the fourth narrower with a six-pane frame. There is a single small window at attic level with a two-pane casement. At basement level there is a left-hand doorway with an adjacent window sharing a lintel, and a doorway with a window to each side. The yard-side return is of five bays with the left-hand bay obscured by the later raised infill extension. The second, fourth and fifth bays have large, rectangular windows, and the third bay has a taking-in door. At basement level there are similar windows in the first, third, fourth and fifth bays, with a wide doorway with a rolled steel joist lintel in the second bay.

West warehouse: the stone-built building is largely obscured by a later-C20 extension on its north-east side and is inaccessible on its south-west side. It is roughly square with a slightly higher two-span roof running east-west to the centre and north-west side and a lower double-pitch roof on the south-east side. The building is single storeyed on its north-west elevation (facing Oldham Road to the rear of the small reservoir) while a fall in the land means that the two-span part of the building also has a basement level and a first-floor level. The south-west section is of two storeys. There is a wide doorway at the left-hand end of the north-west elevation. The north-east elevation has windows beneath the later-C20 extension, which is raised to first-floor level on square, concrete piers with concrete pier and panel construction above. The panels contain large, full-width windows and a stone-clad gable wall at the south-east end. The south-east section has four large, rectangular windows at first-floor level of its south-east elevation, which has a chamfered right-hand corner. The windows have monolithic stone lintels and slightly projecting sills and three-pane timber window frames with a horizontal upper pane. The ground-floor windows are obscured by a later single-storey, lean-to of corrugated steel sheeting. There is a doorway in the angled, right-hand corner. At the left-hand end is a two-bay, single-storey range (stonework painted white) which abuts the north-east wall of the later weaving shed. It has two large, rectangular windows, that to the left partially blocked to form smaller opening.

Weaving shed: the single-storey, stone-built building lies at the south-west end of the site and is attached to the west warehouse by the two-bay, single-storey range. It is roughly square with a three-span saw-tooth roof running north-south. The south-east elevation has stone pilasters to the outer corners and a change in the stone coursing at roof level suggests that the roof structure may have been altered. There is a large doorway in the centre, now partially blocked to form a window. Another doorway in the south-west elevation has been altered to form a window. A straight joint towards the left-hand end indicates that the building has been extended on the north-west side. The north-west elevation has very large, closely-spaced rectangular windows. It is partially obscured by the later single-storey, lean-to of corrugated steel sheeting, now partially collapsed. The roof covering is partially missing.

INTERIOR: owing to the condition of the buildings, only a very limited internal inspection was possible with information also taken from documentary evidence.

Mill: the ground floor of the mill has a concrete screed with timber upper floors. Each floor has two rows of slender cast-iron columns running the length of the building with square bolting heads for transmission brackets and plates supporting timber cross beams which are set into the outer stone walls with cast-iron brackets bolted to the walls. The roof is of three equal spans and the roof structure is formed by rows of three common rafters with collars and strapped tie beams supporting purlins. The stair tower is of fire-proof construction with stone steps, some levelled with concrete. There are also two timber staircases, one in the centre and one at the north-east end.

Engine house, boiler house and coal shed: the buildings were largely inaccessible. Timber roof trusses.

Office and warehouse fronting Oldham Road: these two buildings were inaccessible.

West warehouse: the building was largely inaccessible. The south-east section has king post roof trusses with raking struts. The first floor is supported on rolled steel joist cross beams.

Weaving shed: the building has an angle-iron roof supported on rolled steel joist cross beams on square steel posts and brick piers.

History

Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village of Delph had a dual economy based on agriculture and the woollen textile industry. Weavers’ cottages in the village demonstrate the early origins of the cottage weaving industry which developed on a domestic scale. In the early 1780s Shore Mill (Grade II*) was built as a water-powered carding mill though sharing the appearance of the domestic weavers’ cottages. ‘New’ Delph to the south of the village represented a C19 expansion of the industry with the arrival of the railway and mechanisation. The Epoch 1 1:10560 Ordnance Survey map for Yorkshire published in 1854 shows the site of Bailey Mills as undeveloped fields, though the branch line of the London and North Western Railway, which opened in 1851, is shown. There is little documentary evidence relating to the early history of this steam-powered mill, which was built next to the railway. However, it was run by the family firm of Mallalieu’s for much of its history until the late 1990s. The main spinning mill was built in two equal phases of nine bays with a straight joint between. Each of the four storeys were lit by two vertical windows on the south-east side, giving it a similar appearance to Bankfield Mill in nearby Dobcross, which was built in 1858 (demolished in the 1980s). A date stone on the eastern bays is inscribed 1863 1865 1871. The similarity of detailing suggests that the eighteen bays of the mill were built in 1863 and 1865, the phasing perhaps being the result of a financial consideration. At the west corner of the building was a full-height stair tower, which was later raised to support a water tank. Adjacent to this, towards the right-hand end of the north-west elevation, was a short projecting wing which appears to have originally been of two storeys and was later raised by two storeys to four storeys with a mono-pitch roof. These alterations may date to 1871. The position of the engine and boiler house and mill chimney at the western end of the building indicates that the nine west bays were the first phase of the mill.

The Epoch 1 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map for Yorkshire published in 1894 labels the mill as Bailey Mills (Woollen) and shows the footprint of the main mill was similar to present. The small, rectangular office building fronting Oldham Road is also shown as present. To its right were another group of small buildings, with a stepped warehouse building at the west end of the site, adjacent to two small reservoirs. The railway ran to the immediate south of the mill with a line running directly up to the building, and terminated shortly after at the railway station to its east.

By 1922 the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map shows that the small group of buildings fronting Oldham Road had been replaced by the present warehouse with an angled corner to the yard side. Later in the C20 the stepped warehouse building was altered with the western block replaced by the present three-light weaving shed. A two-bay, flat-roofed extension was built to the east end of the mill, and a high-level covered bridge between the main mill building and the warehouse on Oldham Road was added. Other additions included a raised, infill extension between the engine house and the west warehouse, a single-storey structure on the north-west side of the mill, and an L-shaped, single-storey lean-to of corrugated iron on the south-east and north-east sides of the west warehouse and the weaving shed.

In 1999 Bailey Mills was acquired by R Gledhill Ltd, a family firm of woollen yarn spinners also based in Delph. Whilst initially continuing to operate as a textile mill the business then transferred to two other sites and Bailey Mills has remained empty since then.

Reasons for Listing

Bailey Mills, Delph, of 1863, 1865, 1871, later C19, and C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: Bailey Mills forms an important physical link in the development of the woollen textiles industry in the village of Delph from a dual economy of farming and domestic textile, through the use of a proto-industrial water-power, to full mechanisation and industrialisation with this mid-C19 steam-powered mill using coal brought in by the new railway;

* Architectural interest: the four-storey spinning mill is built of the local millstone grit sandstone and has unusual and particularly distinctive fenestration resulting in a high level of internal lighting;

* Integrated site: the complex as a whole forms a coherent group of buildings, including a large spinning mill with a power plant and chimney, separate office for clients, and warehousing, notwithstanding the dilapidated and poor condition of some elements;

* Industrial context: Bailey Mills is a good example of an integrated woollen textiles mill of the mid to later C19 representing part of the development of the nationally important woollen industry of West Yorkshire helped by the expansion of the railway infrastructure.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26677736

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

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
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  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
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  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
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  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas