Monument record 2608/54/1 - Gas Holder at Parkgreen Mill

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1873-4, Metric Ten Foot Scale Town Plan of Macclesfield (Maps and Plans). SCH4489.

Gasometer marked on the 1:500 town map of Macclesfield (source 1) and the First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch to 1 mile map (source 2) at the Parkgreen silk mill.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

<3> National Museums Liverpool, 2005, An Archaeological and Desk-Based Assessment of Park Green and Jack Lee Mills, Macclesfield (Client Report). SCH4697.

An archaeological desk-based study and walkover survey was undertaken in November 2005 for Park Green Mill, Macclesfield (see 2609/54). Park Green Mill was one of the earliest powered silk mills established in Macclesfield, being founded by Daintry and Ryle sometime before 1785. It was also one of the earliest to convert to steam power, an engine being installed to supplement the waterwheel in the 1790's. The engine was replaced or supplemented by a new engine in the early nineteenth century.

The earliest map evidence for Park Green Mill is Cawley's 'A Plan of the Borough of Macclesfield' of 1838, where it is shown with buildings fronting onto Park Green and Mill Lane. An additional wing to the north forms a central quadrangle with the River Bollin and is abutted by a large building which is of a different footprint to the chapel shown on later mapping. Its scale is sufficient to suggest an industrial function. The Tithe Map of 1840 also depicts Park Green Mill with the chapel to its north but no other detail; no details of ownership are given in the apportionment. The 1871 Macclesfield Ordnance Survey Town Map shows the mill in greater detail; boiler houses are shown within the south-west and east wings and there is an engine house in the south-west wing. Additionally a gasometer is set within a central courtyard. The 1927 Ordnance Survey map shows Park Green Mill spanning the Bollin with the quadrangle almost filled with buildings and the chapel shown as a mill.

<4> Matrix Archaeology Ltd, 2006, Park Green Mill, Macclesfiled, Cheshire: Archaeological Evaluation, R2610 (Client Report). SCH4691.

Following on from the desk-based assessment in 2005 (see ECH 4174), an archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Matrix Archaeology in April/May 2006 at Park Green Mill. Three trenches were excavated in order to investigate the early engine and boiler houses (trench 1), the later boiler house located at the southern end of the demolished east wing (trench 2), and the gas holder (trench 3) located in the centre of the mill courtyard.

The gas holder tank was clearly shown on the 1871 Ordnance Survey plan and may have originated at the site during the early decades of the nineteenth century. This plan depicted five peripheral piers or pediments which would have supported counterbalancing cast iron columns. The one shown on the south-west side was located by the trial trench. The upper part of the tank had been truncated. The Ordnance Survey plan for 1907 suggests that the gaholder had been dismantled and back-filled by this date. The trench was excavated to a depth in excess of 1m below the level of the nearby river bed of the Bollin, however, the existence of a puddle clay stank behind the tank wall suggests that water may have been pumped into the tank to ensure a seal was available at a higher level than percolation of natural groundwater would admit.