Site record MDR5721 - Lace-making workshop (site of), Tamworth Road, Sawley

SK 472 315 Sawley, Tamworth Road. Small two-storey brick lace-making workshop, with blue clay tiled roof and wooden framed windows. It was originally used for small scale lace manufacture, and is possibly early or mid 19th century in date. It is now surrounded by E Carter & Co.'s mineral water works, which was founded in this workshop in the late 19th century [1986]. (1) A desk-based assessment was carried out at this site in 2001 prior to redevelopment of the area for housing. The lace-making cottage was identified during a site inspection as a building of two storeys, constructed of red brick with a blue clay tiled roof. On its only visible elevation, the south-facing elevation, there were two wooden-framed upper floor windows that appeared to be original. The lower floor had been heavily altered - the windows and the brickwork around them were of a much later date. There was a wooden-framed large entranceway to the west of these windows. A chimney was visible at the north-eastern corner of the building. Adjoining its eastern gable was part of the modern factory buildings. The lace-maker's cottage was considered to be a rare survival in Sawley. [It is unclear if a full survey was completed of this building prior to its demolition.] (2) Please note that Authority 3 discusses the possibility of a shoemaker's workshop [SMR 22556] being adjacent to the lace-maker's cottage, but this is now believed to be a mistake, arisen from previous inaccuracies in the grid references for these two HER records. (3)