Building record 2605/1 - Union Flour Mill

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 391116 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Flour mill, disused at time of survey, c.1830, when the Macclesfield Canal was constructed. Brick with Welsh slate roof partially replaced by flat roof following fire damage. Five storeys, seventeen by three bays.

EXTERIOR: canal-side elevation: internal engine house to right marked externally by round-arched window running through two lower floors in bay sixteen. Former boiler house adjoins as a tall, single-storeyed structure to right with round-headed window to gable wall. Corner circular section stack, on plinth but with cap missing, on right-hand angle over engine house bay. Windows in main body of mill largely renewed as casements in original openings, but original or early thirty-six pane sash windows survive in upper floor. Fourth bay (from left) formerly for loading, slightly recessed, with renewed windows replacing loading doors but retaining massive cast-iron lintels. Canal branch enters at eighth bay with heavily rusticated round-headed arch. Two-window, two-storeyed range added to left. Coped gables each side, that to west raised in the form of a pediment to conceal ridge clerestory to roof. Clerestory formerly ran the length of the mill, but the roof structure over the eastern section was destroyed by fire c.1970. Decorative brick eaves cornice and parapet throughout, with openwork iron brattishing. Central loading openings in eastern gable wall cut by two-storeyed extension. Rear (courtyard) elevation: regular fenestration with original small-paned sashes to upper floor, renewed two-pane casements elsewhere. Original loading bay visible at bay fourteen, and possible loading or fire doors in bays seven and eight. Added lift shaft projects from centre.

INTERIOR: the mill is laterally divided by a fire-proof wall on each floor, separating different aspects of processing. Constructional technique in each part varies, with brick arches carried on two rows of cast-iron columns in the western section, timber beams carried on cast-iron columns to east. Eastern section has cast-iron brackets to columns, apparently to secure tension rods, some of which survive on lower floors, spanning the outer aisles of the mill between columns and external walls. Engine house bay to west also separated by fire-proof wall, and with brick arched ceiling construction. Queen-post roof structure overall, partially replaced over eastern section following fire.

The mill is a good example of a large processing unit integrated with the canal system. It became the first producer of the famous Hovis brand of flour in 1886 and was used as the tin and bag making works of Hovis after 1914.

<2> Ashmore, O, 1982, The Industrial Archaeology of North West England, p.46-7 (Book). SCH3181.

<3> Bott O J P, 1986, Cornmill sites in Cheshire 1066-1850 Part 6, p.30 (Article in Journal). SCH6108.

A steam powered cornmill by the canal, Union Street, Macclesfield.

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

The mill and associated buildings are depicted on this map.