Monument record MDR5698 - Oaklea Mills, Oakley Road, Long Eaton

Oaklea Mills is a single-storey brick-built tenement lace factory in three separate blocks, with later extensions at the rear. The centre block has the boiler house and chimney from which the highly decorated head has been removed. Originally a 40HP steam engine drove a dynamo which powered the lace machine motors. Now [in 1986] in multiple occupancy including two Leavers lace manufacturers, E & A Richards Ltd and Birkin & Co Ltd as well as Lace Mechanics Ltd, lace machine mechanics. (1) Oaklea Mill was originally planned in 1900 and was the first single-storey lace factory in Long Eaton. One of the five founders of the mill company was Samuel Cursley (of Stanley Mill), and the chairman was George Smith. The Smith family name survived into the 1950s in Oaklea Mills. In 1948 it had 28 Levers machines. (2) Founded by George Smith c.1902 - who was also director of the Long Eaton Advertiser. Smith was originally a tenant at the Bank Street factory after its opening in 1882, until the Oaklea factory was ready. (3) The first Long Eaton lace factory to be driven by electricity. It was also the first single storey north light factory in Long Eaton and one of the few Long Eaton lace factories to have post WWII extensions. (4) A lace factory, built in 1901 for the Oaklea Mill Company. The factory buildings are of red brick, arranged in three single-storey ranges with northlight roofs. The west range is composed of fifteen north-light bays. Each bay contains a pair of cast-iron casements with polychromatic heads, beneath a circular opening. This was the first single-storey lace factory to be built in Long Eaton. (5) Now only the west range is occupied by technique 2000, an upholstered furniture maker, the rest being derelict. (6)