Monument record MDR5701 - Orchard's/Rutland Mills, Bank Street, Long Eaton

Orchard's Factory. Brick built, 5 storeys, slate roof and L-shape plan. Decorative gable to Main Street, which has a large circular hole (approx. 9' diameter), below which is a datestone, 1881. Bank Street passes below the other arm of the L through a tunnel where the first floor is supported by metal beams. There are two semi-circular-ended stairway turrets, the windows of which ascend in a spiral. The Bank Street turret has a water tank on top and a dated keystone exists on the first floor doorway (1881). The keystone to the yard doorway has the monogram JO (Joseph Orchard). The west arm of the factory has a wooden top floor with continuous windows facing north and south. (1) SK 494333 Chapel Street, Rutland Mills. A two-storey brick-built lace factory in three sections of differing dates. The earliest part, away from Chapel Street, probably dates from the 1870s, as does the central section. The south section is 1880s. All windows have cast iron frames in segmental headed openings apart from the central section which has square headed frames. Built by the Orchard family of lace manufacturers but usually in multiple occupation. Now in light industrial use including East Midland Saw & Tool Co. and Chapel Joinery & Glass (2005). (2) (5) Bush's/Orchard's Workshop/Factories, Bank Street. The Orchards were established in the Long Eaton twist net trade by 1829. Their first factory probably started in the 1850s towards the Gibb Street end of Bank Street. In 1882 the four-storey, lantern-roofed Bank Street Mill was constructed towards the eastern end of Bank Street, replacing an earlier factory that had been built on the site by the Bush family. Orchard's original factory continued to be used by lace makers into the 1960s, one of his descendants working 10 Levers machines there until 1956. The Banks Street Factory contained lace machines until Orchard's closure in the 1920s, after which the building was occupied by non-lace businesses. (3) The 1st ed. 25" Ordnance Survey map shows two silk factories on the site. (4)