Source/Archive record SCH6454 - A Desk Based Cultural heritage Assessment in Connection with Proposed Development at Waterside Mill, Disley, Cheshire

RPS Planning and Development have been commissioned by Disley Tissue Ltd to produce a Desk Based Cultural Heritage Assessment in connection with the proposed development at Disley Paper Mill, Disley, Cheshire, in order to assess the potential for archaeology and cultural heritage of the area in advance of development. The proposed development area is located on the south side of the River Goyt, north of Disley, Cheshire, centred on NGR SJ 980 853. The proposed development area lies within a series of fields. The proposed development area is bounded by the steel fence around the paper mil site. The proposed development area is roughly level at approximately 110m AOD. There is little evidence for early activity in the vicinity of the proposed development area. There is no evidence of a mill, or any other activity other than agriculture, within the proposed development area until the early 19th century. Waterside Mill was probably constructed in c. 1820 and the mill later became a paper mill. There has been much demolition and extensive redevelopment within the proposed development area and much of the early fabric has been removed. In particular most of the 1820s mill has been demolished. There are a number of surviving elements of the cotton mill, however, both upstanding and buried. The closest statutorily protected cultural heritage asset is White Cottage, located on the south side of Redhouse Lane, .located some 200 metres to the south of the proposed development area. The building is listed at Grade II (HB number 406856). It is unlikely that the proposed development would have any effect upon the setting of the listed building. There are several other listed buildings in the area. However, neither these nor any Scheduled Monuments, registered parks and gardens, historic battlefields or conservation areas, nor their settings, would be affected by the proposed development. There is no evidence for the proposed development area to contain below ground remains of national importance, or of sufficient importance to warrant preservation in situ. Given that there are clearly remains of the nineteenth century and later cotton and paper mill surviving within the proposed development area, the overall archaeological potential of the proposed development area is considered to be high. Surviving elements of the mill should be recorded through measured and photographic survey, with a programme of monitoring of demolition, ground reduction excavation for foundations, services etc. and prior to their redevelopment