Monument record 1331/5 - Site of Windsor Mill and Associated Housing, Eaton/Buglawton

<1> Nexus Heritage, 2012, Havannah Mill, Eaton, Congleton, Cheshire East: Archaeological Watching Brief, R3364 (Client Report). SCH6887.

In 2011, an archaeological watching brief was undertaken on land to the east of Macclesfield Road, as part of its re-development for residential purposes. The development area included the site of a demolished nineteenth century silk mill, Windsor Mill, also associated workers' housing (Windsor Row and the southern terrace of New Street), as recorded on historic Ordnance Survey mapping. Windsor Mill formed part of the now largely demolished Havannah Mill complex, located on the east bank of the River Dane, and comprising Havannah Mill (brass mill, later silk and flour mills, see 1331/1), Windsor Mill (silk mill), also three rows of terraced workers' cottages. The terraced housing of Windsor Row and the southern side of New Street was demolished at some time between 1926 and 1938; the housing forming the northern side of New Street still exists (see 1331/2). Windsor Mill itself was demolished in the late 1970's. A further twentieth century factory with associated structures was constructed on the site between 1926 and 1938.

In Phase 1 of the re-development work the area of the twentieth century factory was cleared, followed by the removal of the foundations of associated, subsidiary buildings, beneath which lay Windsor Row. This was then followed by the removal of a large area of the concrete hardstanding to the north of the site which was built upon the remains of the southern terrace of New Street. In other areas of the watching brief, elements of Windsor Mill were recorded including the wheel pit and a buttress at the southern end of mill and the central section of the mill, although little of the walls survived here. Additionally, to the north of the mill, the remains of a twentieth century boiler house were recorded. The excavation of cable runs across the site revealed further features although interpretation of these was difficult.

The two rows of cottages, Windsor Row and the southern terrace of New Street, investigated at Havannah Mill conform to a fairly typical ground-plan of later standardised industrial housing of this area in this period. Nevertheless some key differences can be identified between the two rows, which have implications for understanding the intentions behind their construction, and their actual use. In terms of the plan of the house itself, both of the Havannah Mill terraces appear to have been a fairly conventional ‘two-up two-down’ type, with a large front room (the kitchen, or ‘living room’) and a smaller back room (a pantry and scullery, and probably also containing the stairs). This was characteristic of mill towns of the north midlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire until the advent of the 1860s byelaws which encouraged greater privacy through the use of separate corridors and stairways. However the arrangement of the yards – and the relationships of the houses with them – was quite different in the two terraces. Windsor Row, with its shared outbuildings and relatively open yards, broadly falls within the ‘Sheffield and north-west midlands’ type of terraced house. New Street, on the other hand, shows a much greater degree of ‘privatisation’ of the yard space, more characteristic of the enclosed yards of the Lancashire mill towns. This, along with the relatively haphazard arrangement of outbuildings in the Windsor Row houses, suggest that Windsor Row was the earlier of the two and possibly was associated with the earlier Copper Works. The name ‘New Street’ for the other housing would also support this theory.

Although only fragments of the Mill were examined, it is clear that this too saw repeated renewal and redevelopment of its various features during its lifetime. Of particular interest was the boiler house, which – dated to the 1930s - represents a comparatively late example of the installation of a steam boiler. At this time many similar mills were converting to gas engines or electricity. The boiler house here is firmly in the nineteenth century tradition; the nature of the base suggests a conventional ‘Lancashire’ type boiler as developed in the mid-nineteenth century from the earlier ‘Cornish’ type. The installation of a somewhat old-fashioned coal-powered steam engine may well have been a result of relatively cheap locally-available coal, perhaps coupled with the isolated nature of the site.

The history of the Mills at Havannah is probably an illustration of the history of rural Mills across the north-west, a history of boom and bust, and adaptation. A new site in the 18th century was formed bringing money and people to a rural area, following this the original industry (Copper) collapsed and transformed into a different one, (Silk) maintaining the original infrastructure and even expanding elements of it. This continuum was apparently interrupted for a time in the 1870s by a severe flood, which seems to have brought the majority of work and life here to a halt. Work eventually returned to the site again in the early 20th century and this time on quite a large scale. A significant proportion of the housing was demolished, but the old mill continued to be used – and indeed was enhanced with the addition of a new steam engine and associated infrastructure. The reduced housing capacity on site suggests that the new factory arrangement required a smaller workforce, or was able to benefit from the new-found mobility of working people in the mid-20th century. Work continued in various forms on the new expanded site until the 21st century with industries as diverse as cigar making, fabric making, and plastic plant pot manufacturing making a home in the complex. The new ‘Factory’ outlasted the old Mill by around 30 years, the structure being pulled down in the mid-1970s.