Monument record MDR11306 - Castlefields Lace Mills (site of), Derby Eagle Centre

'Lace Manufactory' is shown on the 1852 Board of Health map on this site. (1). Boden & Morley's/Boden's/Black Bros. & Boden's Factory, Castlefields, Derby. In 1823 John Boden of Loughborough went into partnership with William Morley, the inventor of the double locker rotary machine. The Castlefields site was purchased in 1824 and by 1831 103 machines, valued at £16,320, were working in four machine rooms. Boden's was the largest cotton plain net maker in the UK. The firm was self-sufficient, for as well as making net, it built and repaired its own machines until the First World War, by which time it owned over 400 machines and employed more than 1100 people. Boden's also invested in lace premises outside Derby, including Barnstaple, Chard, Nottingham, Sneinton, Belper, Chesterfield, Ruddington and Ollerton. In 1955 Boden's amalgamated with Black Brothers of Nottingham, makers of net, laces and fabrics, and by 1958 the workforce in Derby had shrunk to 40. The Castlefields factory was subsequently closed down and production concentrated at Chard. (2) Trent & Peak Archaeological Unit was commissioned by Westfield Shoppingtowns Ltd to undertake excavations and a watching brief during the construction of a new extension to the Eagle Centre in 2005-6. The site lies to the south-east of the present Eagle Centre and is bounded by Traffic Street and London Road. Map evidence indicated that in the Victorian era medieval buildings were swept away from the south end of the development site and replaced by Castlefields Lace Mill, terraces, pubs and a new street layout. Castlefields Lace Mill and the surrounding streets were demolished in 1958 and into the 1960s, to make way for the Eagle and Castlefield shopping centres. Excavation recovered a large clay and concrete tank, identified as one of the condensation ponds or tanks from Castlefields Mill and shown on earlier maps; it was infilled c.1890 to 1920. Most of the site was occupied by 19th or 20th century levelling material and building debris. (3)