| Description | 19th century rag merchant's warehouse, 2 Station Road, Batley (SE 24800 23863).
'Industrial or warehouse premises with Classical facade. Circa 1870. Ashlar facade with rusticated quoins. Pitched slate roof with console bracketed eaves cornice with blocking course. 3 storeys with continuous band and cornice between ground and 1st floor. 8 bay symmetrical facade. The 2 centre bays break forward. The 2 large round arched doorways have panelled doors and fanlight, pilaster surround with foliated capitals. Spandrels are carved with serpents and dragons and foliage. Keystones are in form of well carved figure heads. The centre 2 1st floor windows are similar. The left and right wings are identical, each of 3 bays with central door similar to before but with more simple treatment of spandrels and with plain keystone. Round arched windows to left and right with ashlar apron. 1st floor windows are similar. 2nd floor windows have shallow segmental heads and architraves.'
(English Heritage listed building description. Date listed 13/01/1984. http://list.english heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1184110. Web site accessed 18/04/2013)
Batley had become developed as a major commercial centre by the mid 19th century in which the textile industry played a key part. In addition to the woollen textile production, Batley along with Dewsbury, Osset and Morley specialised in the trade of recovering wool fibres from rags (shoddy and mungo). By the last half of the 19th century several textile mills in this area were dedicated to the shoddy and mungo industry. Around the local railheads, warehouses were built to facilitate trade. Railway stations in the textile towns had large areas of railway sidings and goods sheds. Station Road in Batley became lined by many impressive warehouses from the third quarter of the 19th century and into the early 20th century. These buildings represented the public and commercial face of local industry and as such were constructed to impress. They were imposing high status buildings with elaborate decoration which provided a strong contrast to the utilitarian mills. There are several such buildings lining the approach to Batley Railway Station representing a well preserved and coherent group of late 19th century warehouses (Giles, C and Goodall, I.H. 1992. 'Yorkshire Textile Mills. 1770 1920'. Pages 116 and 169).
The warehouses of Station Road, Batley were the subject of an archaeological assessment by Giles, C and Goodall, I.H. in January 1985 as part of the WYAS/RCHME Yorkshire Textile Mills Survey. A photographic record was made of no. 2 Station Road. These images are held by WYAAS (Goodall, I. H. (WYAS/RCHME). 1985. 'Rag Merchants' Warehouses, Station Road'. RCHME job reference number: YO1339).
Current on line mapping resources depict the building as extant and recently cleaned (http://maps.google.co.uk/. Web site accessed 18/04/2013). |