Listed Building record MDR5567 - Victoria Mills, Draycott

SK 445333 Victoria Mill was completed in 1907; it bears the name 'Jardine' on the clock and is 58 bays long, 5 bays deep, and 4 storeys high. It was one of the largest lace tenement factories. (1). Victoria Mill. Tenement lace factory, now light industrial works. Erected between 1888 and 1907 with partial rebuilding after a fire in 1902. Built by E Terah Hooley, a wealthy local industrialist, and finished by Ernest Jardine. Reputedly the largest lace factory in the world. Grade II. (2) Victoria Mills. This very impressive four storey brick-built and slate-roofed former tenement lace factory was built over the period 1888 to 1907 and has an ornamental clock tower capped by a cupola. The building is divided into five sections by four semi-circular ended staircase turrets on the west side. Now principally occupied by J H Parry, electrical component manufacurers. (4) A sale of land and property in April 1889 records 'all that four storey factory mill, engine house and boiler house, known as the Draycott Mills with the Counting House Offices and outbuildings thereto adjoining .. And all those two dwelling houses erected upon the other part of the said piece of land at the Northern end thereof ..'. This confirms the building date of the centre section of the mill as 1888. The two cottages referred to stood at the north-west corner of the mill and were demolished in 1961 to make a car-park. Further houses towards the south-western end of the site were built in 1894 and 1896 and demolished in 1968. There was a fire at the factory on January 17 1902 that destroyed the southernmost block of the mill, although a fireproof wall protected the rest of the building. The fire damaged block was rebuilt on an enlarged scale and was completed in 1907. At that time it was described as 'one of the largest lace factories in one block in the world', being 616 ft long, with four storeys and 228 windows, each window giving light to a standing for a lace machine. It was a tenement mill, with rented machines in rented space. Power was supplied by two Hick Hargrave's engines, replaced in 1903 by two Lancashire Boilers in a new engine house. Soft water for the boilers was obtained from a large underground cistern in the yard to the north of the boiler house. The steam engine ceased work in 1959. The boiler house chimney, south of the engine house, was originally 120 ft high but was struck by lightning in 1921 and re-built 2ft shorter. All the toilets were originally outside the building until 1952. The last outside toilet was demolished in 1968. The yards were originally surfaced with either limestone or 'Mountsorrel' cobbles, four and a half inch square set in bitumastic. After the First World War, trades other than lace manufacturers came into the mill, including hosiery manufacturers, manufacturers of knitted outerwear, an upholstery Jacquard puncher, dyers and electrical engineers. The present owners, W J Parry and Sons Ltd took over the ownership of the mill in July 1957, with the last lace manufacturer leaving the mill in February 1970. (5) Victoria Mill was built as a tenement factory in seven sections. It was started in 1888, with the first four sections being completed in 1899. The remaining three sections, including the imposing frontage and clock tower, were completed by 1907. The mill, with 228 standings, was in the ownership of Jardines between 1899 and 1957. (6) The factory is now (2005) being converted into residential units. (7)