Building record 2598/9/0 - Adelphi Mill

Built by the Swindells and Brooke families, in 1856, as a steam driven cotton mill. Switched to silk spinning in 1949, due to the Cotton Spinning Industry Act of 1936. 6 storeys high, 58m long, with an internal width of 26m. Intermediate support is in the form of 3 rows of cast iron columns, integral to the structure, which diminish in diameter from 300mm at the fireproof ground level to 150mm at the top floor. Stone built, with stone sills and flat arched lintels. The multiple span roof is made up of 4 king- post trusses, each spanning 6.5m. The mill had its own wharf and cranes on the Macclesfield Canal. Office lodge was a separate building. ECTMS 133 (1). Engine house, boiler house and octagonal brick chimney on a stone plinth to the north (2). Now occupied by light industry and a hotel (1).

The substantial main range is six storeys in height and 30 bays in length on the west front. A shallow parapet conceals a multi-valley roof. The main entrance is at the north end with a rusticated portico, raised on four steps, formed of three round headed arches. The arch to the south has been blocked by the addition of a lift shaft, dated to 1919 by a date stone on its west face. The north west corner is surmounted by a square, corner tower which has octagonal corner turrets. There is a further original entrance door, in the 10th bay from the north end. Three dry chute toilet blocks are spaced evenly along the main range. At the south end there is a two-storey, three-bay addition with the inscription '1824' in the stone lintel of the central entrance doorway. Italianate in feel, its window bays are recessed and the sills form part of projecting string courses, the upper one of which is on corbels.

At the northern end there is an attached chimney base, surmounted by the moulded plinth of an octagonal chimney - the shaft has been removed. The ventilation arches in the north and south faces have been converted to form doorways. Adjoining the north end of the mill is the tall, gabled, engine house and a three bay, two storey, boiler house, with arched openings to the east. Further north, adjoining the boiler house, is a three storey cotton store. Its windows opening are square headed; save those on at first floor level the east side, which are round. A smithy adjoining the cotton store to the east has been reduced in height. A 1907 engine house, three storeys in height and square in plan, adjoins the north east corner of the mill. The interior of the mill has been subdivided into offices and industrial units, concealing much of the historic fabric, save for the ground floor. Construction on the upper floors is traditional - timber bridging beams supported by three rows of cast iron columns, but at ground floor level the building is 'fireproof in form, where the cast-iron columns support cast-iron beams spanned by brick, jack arches. At first floor level an area of metal sheeting, which acted as fireproofing, is visible lining the ceiling. At same point, and also on the fourth floor, substantial cast iron blocks that formed bearing housing for drive shafting survive. No parts of the steam engines or boilers survive, but in the 1856 engine house the walls carry evidence in the form of stone blocks which supported the engine and drive. The cotton store has a roof comprising cast-iron plate and wrought iron rod trusses. To the east of the main range there are wrought iron railings on a stone plinth with stone gate piers. Also, on the canal bank, the cast-iron base plate of a canal-side crane survives. On the east bank there is the more substantial remains of a crane, being the lower portion of a circular shaft formed of a wrought iron frame lined with timber

<1> Calladine A & Fricker J, 1993, East Cheshire Textile Mills, /107,109,133-5 (Y) (Book). SCH1093.

<2> Ashmore, O, 1982, The Industrial Archaeology of North West England, /30 (Book). SCH3181.

<3> Cheshire County Council, 1974, County Treasures Record, 5/IA.595 0 1984 (Y) (Index). SCH1000.

<4> Longden G & M Spink, 1986, Looking Back at Bollington 1984-1914, /11 (Graphic Material). SCH2030.

<5> Wilmslow Historical Society, 1973, Cotton Town: Bollington and the Swindells Family, /35-38 (Book). SCH978.

<6> English Heritage, Listed Buildings Online, 500565 (Digital Archive). SCH4761.