| Description | Corporation Mill, Warley. Large mid to late 19th century worsted mill
'William Morris and Sons Ltd had a number of mills:
Stansfeld Mills, Triangle, Sowerby. Owned from 1848, the mills closed in 1970 because of structural faults. They were largely demolished in 1985. Attached to the mill was a hostel for female workers, opened in 1921 and used until the 1950s.
Corporation Mill, Sowerby Bridge, Warley. This mill produced khaki worsted yarn for the Army and materials for the Navy in the First World War. Work from Stansfeld Mills was transferred here from 1970. It closed in October 1979 with the loss of 135 jobs. Crestol Ltd (hair care manufacturers) used the mill from 1980 1986. In 1989 J and C Joel Ltd, specialist textile merchants and international dealers bought it. In 1990 some space was let to the Treadmill Fitness and Health Centre. In 1979 Corporation Mill was the last Sowerby Bridge worsted spinners to close.
Other sites were Hollins Mill, Warley, warehouses at 13 15 Barkerend Rd, Bradford, and a business in Hereford founded c1875. Eventually the firm became a branch of Illingworth Morris and Company Ltd'.
(Edited from The National Archives. 'William Morris and Sons LTD, Sowerby Bridge, Worsted Spinners. Record'. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=203 wimandcid=0#0. Web site accessed 08/07/2013).
NB: The historic archive for records relating to William Morris and Sons Ltd. Sowerby Bridge, Worsted Spinners are held at the Calderdale District office of the West Yorkshire Archive Service.
Using modern Bing Maps and Google Street View (viewed 07/01/2014) it is possible to see that Corporation Mill is a large stone built textile mill. The main mill body is five storeys high and twenty one bays long, and the main frontage along Corporation Street has taking in doors in central bay with dormer for the hoist on the roof. Rochdale Canal to rear. The mill is four bays wide and has a double gabled roof. Water tower at south west corner. Boiler house and engine house are housed separately at western end of complex in low sheds, which are of two storeys, six bay extension at eastern end, and which may have replaced earlier attached structure(this description was observed by David Hunter (WYAAS) in July 2010 see PRN 11855). The Google and Bing maps also show the mill's chimney still upstanding to the west, despite Hunter stating that it was to be demolished in late 2010 (see PRN 11855). One Google street view image (supposedly taken in 2012) does suggest that the mill chimney has been demolished (needs a site visit to confirm whether or not this is the case).
Historic Ordnance Survey (OS) maps show that in c.1850 the site of the mill was actually a sandstone quarry. Corporation Mills are shown on the next OS edition (c.1894) indicating that the main mill building dates to the mid/late 19th century (OS 6' 1st edition. 1850. Sheet 230: OS 6' 2nd edition. c.1894. Sheet 230). |