Monument record 2608/54 - Park Green Mill, Macclesfield

<1> Calladine A & Fricker J, 1993, East Cheshire Textile Mills, p.48, 55, 66-7 (Book). SCH1093.

Built by Michael Daintry and John Ryle, before 1785, it is now the only surviving water powered silk mill in Macclesfield. Partly dependant upon steam power from 1795, with the installation of a double cylinder atmospheric engine, on the opposite side of the mill to the wheel. The 16' diameter undershot wheel was fed by a 400m leat, through an underground culvert and cast iron pipe. The front section of the mill was originally a warehouse. Original part of mill destroyed by fire in 1976.

<2> Ashmore, O, 1982, The Industrial Archaeology of North West England, p.45 (Book). SCH3181.

Called Frosts Mill.

<3> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 391063 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Former silk mill, now in use as offices. Built by 1785, with early nineteenth century alterations and additions. Brick with stone-flagged roof. Main range 3 storeys with basement. Formerly L-plan, but only a short length of the rear wing to Mill Lane frontage remains. The rest was replaced c1900. Principal elevation a 13-window range with central 3 bays projecting and pedimented. Doorway in angle to right of this central projection. Windows generally renewed in original openings with flat-arched brick heads and stone sills. Clock in pediment, and weather vane on its apex. Lower parallel range to rear, running between short projecting wing to west, and former projecting toilet block towards centre of main range. INTERIOR: internal construction of single-span timber beams and king post roof. The mill was originally built for water power, with a steam engine added by 1801. Both elements of the power system were housed in the long east wing to Mill Lane which was later replaced by single-storey weaving sheds, themselves destroyed by fire in 1976.

<4> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p 465 (Book). SCH7059.

Park Green Mill, dated 1785, of thirteen bays and four storeys with a three-bay projection added pediment-wise with a clock and cupola.

<5> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R, 03/04/2017 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

The remainder of the mill burnt down in July 2011.

<6> National Museums Liverpool, 2005, An Archaeological and Desk-Based Assessment of Park Green and Jack Lee Mills, Macclesfield, R2601 (Client Report). SCH4697.

An archaeological desk-based study and walkover survey was undertaken in November 2005 for Park Green Mill, Macclesfield.

The Domesday survey cites Macclesfield as one of two large estates in the Hamestan Hundred, the other being Adlington. The estate included land for ten ploughs, a mill, a hall, woodland and meadows. The manor house was situated to the south-west of the town and associated to it was a deer park. The location of the manorial mill is not clear, though the Sutton in Prestbury map of 1787 records 'Big Mill ' and 'Little Mill' fields in the area of Park Green, another potential location is the Brunswick Street area to the north. The dominant industry in Macclesfield between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries was silk throwing and weaving. Readily available sources of water power, a cool, damp climate and poor land not conducive to an agricultural economy, and sources of coal for later steam-powered factories, were all contributory factors. Button manufacturing is documented in Macclesfield from 1574 and this developed into manufacture of silk buttons by the seventeenth century.

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.

The walkover survey (14/10/2005) observed the Georgian Mill to retain much of its historic character. At the time of survey it was empty and disused. The façade to Park Green remains largely unaltered, however, internally the building had been extensively altered, having been used as office accommodation. Elements of the timber-framing were exposed, notably the King Post oak roof trusses. Iron fittings were also in evidence. The basement contained a brick fireplace, one of the few examples surviving within a Cheshire mill. The area to the east of the mill was occupied by buildings, the Mill Lane range, which burnt down in 1976, the space was used as enclosed car-parking at time of survey. The east facing elevation of the mill retained the scars of this former range which originally was of three to four storeys with a pitched roof. The boiler and engine houses were situated to the rear of the Mill Lane range and, whilst these buildings were demolished in a fire in 1976, it is likely that significant remains survive below ground. Evidence of other early industrial buildings may survive across the site.

<7> 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 located adjacent to the demolished south-west wing (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 excavation revealed a complex sequence of boiler rooms and engine houses and allowed investigation of the former gas holder (see 2608/54/1). Work on site also allowed the identification of the site of the former wheel pit and recognition of surviving fragments of the largely-demolished south-west wing.

<8> Cotswold Archaeology, 2017, Georgian Mill, Park Green, Macclesfield, Cheshire: Heritage Desk-based Assessment, R4086 (Client Report). SCH8348.

<9> Cotswold Archaeology, 2019, Georgian Mill, Macclesfield, Cheshire: Level 1 Historic Building Recording, R4301 (Client Report). SCH8686.

Following on from the programme of archaeological work undertaken for the Georgian Mill/Park Green Mill (see sources 6-8), a Level 1 Historic Building Survey, including photographic recording, was undertaken in 2019 of the extant mill structures on site. The work was undertaken in support of a planning application for the demolition of the remaining extant buildings on Site and the erection of 67 dwellings and associated car parking and landscaping.

Due to health and safety constraints, it was not possible to access the internal areas of the Georgian Mill and those areas contained within the hoarding. It was therefore not possible to record those parts of the building including part of Boiler House II.

<10> University of Salford (Centre for Applied Archaeology), 2019, Archaeological Excavation: Georgian Mills, Park Green, Macclesfield, R4352 (Client Report). SCH8760.

In 2019 archaeological excavation was undertaken on the site of the former eighteenth century silk mill, 'Park Green Mill', Park Green, Macclesfield, prior to the construction of a residential development which comprised the demolition of standing buildings and considerable earth-moving works impacting on buried remains.

Three areas were targeted for excavation to record remains of buried in situ power systems associated with the former mill, including the potential location of a wheel pit, also remains associated with the mill's early conversion to steam power. An underground tailrace was recorded in two of the excavated areas, also an engine bed which lay beyond the footprint of the boiler and engine houses shown on successive OS maps. Although evidence for the mill’s original wheel pit was not definitively identified, evidence from the excavation, combined with historical research has produced an interesting body of evidence that can be compared to other silk mills in Cheshire and the North West region.