Listed Building: UNION MILL (1210397)

MACCLESFIELD SJ9273 886-1/7/208 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. 5 storeys, 17 x 3 bays. EXTERIOR: canalside elevation: internal engine house to right marked externally by round-arched window running through 2 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. 4th bay (from left) formerly for loading, slightly recessed, with renewed windows replacing loading doors but retaining massive cast-iron lintels. Canal branch enters at 8th bay with heavily rusticated round-headed arch. 2-window, 2-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. Clerestorey 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 2-storeyed extension. Rear (courtyard) elevation: regular fenestration with original small-paned sashes to upper floor, renewed 2-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 2 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: SJ9243773365