Holmes Mill aka Bath Street Mill
Built in brick as a silk mill in 1850s, it was three storeys high and 12 bays wide with cast-iron attic windows made at the local foundry. At the north end, there was a small building at right angles built to house the steam engine which powered the mill. In the 1840s the mill diversified into silk-throwing due to a surge in demand for silk goods, and by 1857, it had diversified into manufacturing elastic web and gussets.
This Mill was the first to produce silk elastic web on power looms in the city, thus while other mills closed, this Mill thrived, and even expanded in 1868. The mill was extended southwards by a further 20 bays to the designs of S Morely, and gained its own railway siding. Then that year, 1857 the protective tariffs, which had allowed English silk- throwing to flourish since 1718, were removed. The UK silk- throwing industry plunged into a sharp decline and this caused the closure of several firms. The rear yards were covered over with weaving sheds for an expansion into the manufacture of woollen goods – another milestone for the firm, for it was the first to produce wool serge and lastings in the city. By 1891 there were almost 300 employees.
By 1904, the firm began to contract and almost two thirds of the mill was let to a pair of textile firms. One of these businesses was the a cotton mill company. The cotton mill closed on June 24, 1958- all the looms were smashed for scrap, as no buyer could be found. After the First World War, the original owners ceased trade its portion of the mill was, by 1925, occupied by shoe and slipper manufacturer Maden & Ireland. All parts of the mill were rented out. After the 1930s the mill gradually became a tenement factory.
The mill was put up for sale, as a potential residential conversion in 2008, and was gutted by a fire in 2009, the developer had failed to secure planning permission for residential apartments.
Proper relaxed explore. I did enter a room with mattresses and sofa's someone is/was living there, fair play to them free city centre accommodation!
