Call to save North’s ‘powerhouse’ mills
Heritage body says history is vanishing
HERITAGE: The ‘original Northern Powerhouse’, the North’s historic textile mills, are disappearing fast and should be at the centre of regeneration as homes or workplaces, Historic England has warned.
THE “ORIGINAL Northern Powerhouse”, the North’s historic textile mills, are disappearing fast and should be at the centre of regeneration, Historic England has warned.
The heritage champion is calling for industrial mill buildings across the North to be salvaged for future generations as homes, workplaces and cultural spaces.
It has released new research today which it says shows the public is against demolition of these “distinctive and character-filled” buildings that once defined the landscape of Northern England.
Heritage England said hundreds of historic buildings stand empty and neglected, and highlighted Bradford, where more than 100 historic mills had been involved in fires since 2010.
But there are success stories that show the potential of these “wonderful” buildings, it said. Historic England has highlighted Grade II-listed Castleton Mills, which sits on the banks of the Leeds and Liverpool canal in central Leeds, which has undergone a £1.5m regeneration programme since being bought by businessman Dirk Mischendahl in 2013.
Built in 1836, the former flax mill had become office space in the 1990s, but was almost empty and in a state of disrepair when it was taken on by Mr Mischendahl, who had previously been involved in the transformation of the former Tetley Brewery in Leeds.
After an extensive restoration project, the mill was turned into a collection of workspaces and studios for creative industries, with an array of original features retained and restored, included vaulted ceilings, original wooden beams, large windows and Yorkshire stone floors.
The building and community manager at Castleton Mills, Sue Jennings, said: “The owners are passionate about restoring the mill and retaining as many original features as possible – including the distinctive chimney.
“It needed a huge amount of work and around £70,000 alone has been recently invested in restoring it. The chimney doesn’t have any commercial value, but it is an iconic sight along the canal, so it was important to us to retain it for future generations.
“We still have two annexes left to convert and we’re always looking into the history of the building, and spotting lovely and interesting things from throughout its history.”
While its latest report focuses on the North-West, where almost half of mills across Greater Manchester have been lost since the 1980s and 66 per cent have gone in Salford, an in-depth study of mills in Yorkshire and the Humber last year showed that more than 1,300 mills across Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees stood empty or under-used. Then, Historic England said the region’s former textile mills could accommodate 27,000 homes or 150,000 jobs – with a typical vacant mill having the potential to create £4.7m a year if used for employment.
The latest report said the North-West’s vacant mill spaces could go a long way to solving the region’s housing crisis, with an estimated 1.9m square metres of vacant floor space in textile mills across Greater Manchester and Lancashire – the equivalent to 25,000 new homes.
Historic England’s planning director in the North-West, Catherine Dewar, said mills had a “profound impact on the physical and cultural landscape” of the North.
“Mills have so much to offer in terms of space, character and identity,” she added. “By shining a light on successful regeneration projects, we hope to inspire others to recognise the potential of our former industrial buildings and start a conversation about their future.”
TEXTILE MILLS are as characteristic a part of the Yorkshire landscape as the Dales, the coast or the North Yorkshire Moors, yet unlike the great beauty spots of our county they enjoy no official protection.
Worse, they are in too many cases not only neglected, but under threat. The toll of fires that destroy mills is on a truly shocking scale, with more than 100 in Bradford alone since 2010.
Yet the public overwhelmingly wants these historic buildings to be preserved and given a new lease of life, rightly recognising that they are not just bricks and mortar, but a vital part of our heritage.
Yorkshire’s mills tell the story of how our county became one of the great workshops of Britain. They helped to create the prosperity that built towns and cities and in their own way helped to forge the values and character that define Yorkshire.
Historic England’s call for a rethink on the future of mills is timely and should be heeded by the Government. There are excellent examples across Yorkshire of imaginative and sympathetic conversions to create both workplaces and homes, and these point the way forward.
There is no good reason why mills should be left to fall into dereliction when there is a national shortage of affordable homes and many entrepreneurs looking for office space for start-ups.
It is high time that mills were regarded not as relics of a bygone age, but buildings that have a part to play in a bright future.