Site Event/Activity record ECH7061 - Ladyfield Works, 31-33 Ladyfield Street, Wilmslow, SK9 1BR: Historic Building Record Level 2

A level 2 historic building record was produced in 2019 for 31-33 Ladyfield Street, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 1BR, which forms part of the site of the former Ladyfield Works, a fustian cutting workshop dating from the late nineteenth century, in advance of demolition. On the first edition county 25” county series Ordnance Survey map of 1874 the area was occupied by a small, unnamed, rectangular structure, aligned north-west/south-east, which fronted Bollin Walk. By the production of the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1898 this building had been replaced by a much larger rectangular structure which fronted Ladyfield Street. This building must have originally been separate from the older terraced buildings to the west of 31-33 Ladyfield street, this is contrary to the depiction 1898 map and suggests that the connection of the terrace and the workshop took place soon after it was erected. Soon after its construction the workshop was formally connected to the existing terrace by the addition of an extension to the west, perhaps in order to provide accommodation for a foreman or to provide another house for rent on the row. This interpretation can be confirmed/supported by the evidence provided by the observed building phases; the brickwork between the original eastern workshop and the house extension is distinctly different, with courses being misaligned with each other, Furthermore the type of brick used in construction changes from handmade for the workshop to machine made for the western extension. The chimney breasts found within the ground floor and first floor rooms of the western extension project outwards by some distance into the rooms of the extension and suggest that they once formed the external chimney stacks of the original workshop and were later reengineered to receive further fireplaces. Later Ordnance Survey mapping labels this structure as ‘Ladyfield Works’ with a few small additions to the rear yard appearing, the works appear to have remained largely unaltered since 1899. Since 1927, the site has been used for metal fabrication when it was known as W.H. Jones and Co which was a family run business supplying Rolls Royce and General Electric. (1)