Listed Building record MDR5803 - Albion Works, Burr Lane, Ilkeston

SK 466420 The 'Lace' Factory is a four-storey red brick mill of 9 bays with a pediment over the central three bays. Three-storey wing of four bays are attached. (1) The lace factory of W. Ball & Son Ltd. Has manufactured pure silk milanese warp and glove piece goods since 1825-30 (2). Possibly since the 1840s (3). Ball and Son Ltd Factory. Lace factory c1840. Grade II. (4) A four-storey brick-built hosiery/lace/glove factory with central pediment and clock, built in c. 1845 for Francis Ball & Sons. It has rectangular cast iron window frames. Unusually, Ball & Sons are still in business and it is certainly the earliest substantial factory in the town and certainly the one in longest continuous operation by one firm. The two storey mid-19th century brick annexe is now used by a subsidiary, Baltex Fabrics. An earlier (1820s) building was demolished during the 1960s. (5) Ball's is the oldest surviving textile company in Ilkeston and continues in the ownership of the same family after seven generations. The firm was at the forefront of technical innovation in the mid-19th century when its warp lace products won a number of exhibition medals. In 1805 Francis Ball, originally a framework knitter, built a house and frameshop in Burr Lane for making lace. His five sons entered the business, which made its own machines, as well as lace for mittens, gloves and shawls. The original frameshop was enlarged in 1828 and in 1843 a four-storey factory was constructed, followed later by further extensions. The firm ceased to list itself as a lace manufacture in Ilkeston in 1895, although still advertising that it made lace mitts and shawls in 1914. (6) In 2005 listed as out of use and for sale. (7)