Monument record 4382 - Wheelock Mill

A Silk Mill is depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25 inch to 1 mile map (1).

Wheelock Mill is a typical example of a mill of it's period. Built in 1809 to be a steam powered mill it is three storeys high and L-Shaped in plan. The main range measures 28.5m long by 7.5m wide internally. The adjoining wing appears to be a contemporarily built warehouse as there is no obvious evidence for power transmission and the windows are not arranged to give maximum light. To the north-west are the engine and boiler houses which originally formed an L-shaped building. The engine house is 3m wide and is tall and narrow. Two entablature beams, one in the yard and one in the building indicate that the mill once had a beam engine. The original chimney stood against the mill to the south of the boiler and was square in plan. He mill was as simple in plan, construction and scale to mills built to be powered by horse or water (2).

The tithe award for Sandbach township records the buildings and surrounding structures as a factory in the ownership of John Bull (3).

Also known as Zan Mill. It is believed to have been constructed in 1809 as a steam-powered, silk-throwing mill with an attached warehouse wing and external boiler and engine houses. As the silk industry in Cheshire began to decline in the mid-late nineteenth century the mill changed to cotton manufacture in 1870 and began producing fustian (velvet), which is made by combining linen and cotton. The mill's original square chimney is believed to have been demolished in the late nineteenth century and was subsequently replaced by a circular chimney, which itself was truncated in the 1930s and again in 1985. In 1919 the company of 'Hovey & Lowther' (known as 'Zan' from the 1920s/30s) was founded at the mill, which produced polishes, disinfectants and soaps. In the 1920s the mill's original multipaned windows were replaced with large-paned casements and a large clock (brought over from the nearby Brunner Mond salt & chemical works that was being demolished at the time) was installed on the south-west elevation, replacing a window.

The original attached boiler house is believed to have been demolished in the early-mid twentieth century and replaced with a later and larger example. During the Second World War an air raid siren and spotter box were erected on the mill's roof. The spotter box was taken down in the 1980s and the siren was taken down by the Ministry of Defence at the end of the Cold War (c1991). In the early-mid twentieth century light industrial units were built around the mill as the mill's owners diversified into other areas of production. In the 1970s/80s when the mill ceased operation the units were rented out to various businesses and continue in this manner today. The mill is currently partly used for storage, but the majority of the building is now disused (4).

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

<2> Calladine A & Fricker J, 1993, East Cheshire Textile Mills, p.49, 66, 67 (Book). SCH1093.

<3> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 351/2a (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

<4> English Heritage/DCMS, Various, Notification of decision not to include on the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 464057 (Written Communication). SCH5393.