May 2020 visit to The Big Mill, Leek.
We visited on a dry day. Access isn't that easy, if you go be prepared to climb and be careful. Internally there is signs of collapse of the floors, and also signs warning of asbestos (although we didn't see any evidence of asbestos). Most floors are pretty clear. The floor where the original 4th storey walkway entered has left over building material dumped there (we guessed from the nearby building conversions?). There is access to the roof, which has clearly had works done in recent years.
- - -
Some background pulled from the internet:
Silk mill. c1860. By William Sugden. Brick with stone dressings, and low-pitched or flat roof not visible. Italianate style. Narrow in plan with 5-window returns. EXTERIOR: 6 storeys, 21-window range. Advanced central 7-storeyed stair tower with arcaded upper storey and overhanging, shallow pyramidal roof. Rusticated quoins and window surrounds to tower, with plain string courses, and moulded cornice over the 6th storey. Shallow projecting bays each side of tower, (possibly built as privy towers?). Fenestration elsewhere has iron-framed windows with continuous stone cills and flat stone lintels, with round-arched windows forming an arcade to ground floor. Central doorway in base of tower with concave reveal with round-arched head, heavy key block and fanlight. Angles stressed by pilasters. Cornice and parapet. Engine and boiler house to rear, but only slight evidence of original power transmission. INTERIOR: not inspected. The mill is an important example of large-scale building for the silk industry, and represents one of the earliest mill buildings on this scale in Leek. It is also a good example of the mill-style developed by William Sugden, the leading mill architect at work in Leek at this time.
Big Mill, a Grade II Listed building, sits high above Mill Street and is on the gateway to the town on the busy Leek to Macclesfield Road.
Big Mill in Mill Street was built in 1857 to the design of famous Victorian architect William Sugden, who was responsible for many of Leek's prominent buildings.
It was originally built for Lovatt and Goulding, but eventually became Wardle and Davenports. and was occupied from 1858 by Joseph Broster. It is 6 storeys high, 21 bays long, and 5 bays deep.
The Big Mill Leek or Wardle & Davenport Ltd is in Staffordshire Built in 1857 by the famous Victorian architect William sugden, originally built for Lovatt and Goulding but later became Wardle and Davenport.The firm Wardle and Davenport was formed in 1867 with the partnership between Henry wardle and George davenport over many years they ran many successful business’s employing up to 2500 people by the 1960’s the company was suffering great losses and by 1970 they went into receivership, they also pioneered the way forward in artificial silk stockings, the building is currently under redevelopment other mills in the area have been redeveloped , work seems to have stopped on this site for the time been.
Newspaper updates from April 2020 are as follows:
A vacant mill on a busy Staffordshire Moorlands road could be converted into dozens of apartments.
Developer Mr Atique Choudhury has applied for permission to convert the vacant Big Mill on Mill Street in Leek into 55 apartments - with the internal structure of the mill also set to be removed.
The application is currently listed as 'awaiting validation'.
Once it is validated more details of the scheme will be revealed and the public will be invited to have their say on the application.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council will then make a decision on the application in the following weeks. The six-storey Grade-II listed building, designed by William Sugden and built in 1857, has been vacant for more than a decade.
- - -
We visited on a dry day. Access isn't that easy, if you go be prepared to climb and be careful. Internally there is signs of collapse of the floors, and also signs warning of asbestos (although we didn't see any evidence of asbestos). Most floors are pretty clear. The floor where the original 4th storey walkway entered has left over building material dumped there (we guessed from the nearby building conversions?). There is access to the roof, which has clearly had works done in recent years.
- - -
Some background pulled from the internet:
Silk mill. c1860. By William Sugden. Brick with stone dressings, and low-pitched or flat roof not visible. Italianate style. Narrow in plan with 5-window returns. EXTERIOR: 6 storeys, 21-window range. Advanced central 7-storeyed stair tower with arcaded upper storey and overhanging, shallow pyramidal roof. Rusticated quoins and window surrounds to tower, with plain string courses, and moulded cornice over the 6th storey. Shallow projecting bays each side of tower, (possibly built as privy towers?). Fenestration elsewhere has iron-framed windows with continuous stone cills and flat stone lintels, with round-arched windows forming an arcade to ground floor. Central doorway in base of tower with concave reveal with round-arched head, heavy key block and fanlight. Angles stressed by pilasters. Cornice and parapet. Engine and boiler house to rear, but only slight evidence of original power transmission. INTERIOR: not inspected. The mill is an important example of large-scale building for the silk industry, and represents one of the earliest mill buildings on this scale in Leek. It is also a good example of the mill-style developed by William Sugden, the leading mill architect at work in Leek at this time.
Big Mill, a Grade II Listed building, sits high above Mill Street and is on the gateway to the town on the busy Leek to Macclesfield Road.
Big Mill in Mill Street was built in 1857 to the design of famous Victorian architect William Sugden, who was responsible for many of Leek's prominent buildings.
It was originally built for Lovatt and Goulding, but eventually became Wardle and Davenports. and was occupied from 1858 by Joseph Broster. It is 6 storeys high, 21 bays long, and 5 bays deep.
The Big Mill Leek or Wardle & Davenport Ltd is in Staffordshire Built in 1857 by the famous Victorian architect William sugden, originally built for Lovatt and Goulding but later became Wardle and Davenport.The firm Wardle and Davenport was formed in 1867 with the partnership between Henry wardle and George davenport over many years they ran many successful business’s employing up to 2500 people by the 1960’s the company was suffering great losses and by 1970 they went into receivership, they also pioneered the way forward in artificial silk stockings, the building is currently under redevelopment other mills in the area have been redeveloped , work seems to have stopped on this site for the time been.
Newspaper updates from April 2020 are as follows:
A vacant mill on a busy Staffordshire Moorlands road could be converted into dozens of apartments.
Developer Mr Atique Choudhury has applied for permission to convert the vacant Big Mill on Mill Street in Leek into 55 apartments - with the internal structure of the mill also set to be removed.
The application is currently listed as 'awaiting validation'.
Once it is validated more details of the scheme will be revealed and the public will be invited to have their say on the application.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council will then make a decision on the application in the following weeks. The six-storey Grade-II listed building, designed by William Sugden and built in 1857, has been vacant for more than a decade.
- - -
