The Grade-I-listed Main Mill at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings (Copyright Historic England Archive, Steven Baker)
A specialist heritage contractor has reached a milestone on what is claimed to be the “most important building of the modern age”.
Croft Building and Conservation, based in Cannock, Staffordshire, has completed the restoration of the roof on the Grade-I-listed Main Mill at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, which dates back to 1797.
The Main Mill is reputed to be the first building anywhere to have an iron frame and its British design gave birth to the modern skyscraper.
The old roof
Around 15,000 new Welsh slates from Penrhyn Quarry, the only remaining source of original North Wales slate, have been used on the project.
The roof has an unusual design – a saw-tooth profile with 17 valley gutters between the slate roof slopes. When the roof covering was stripped, it was discovered that the original cast iron valley gutters of 1797 still survived. Each section was four metres long and required four men to lift it. To repair the roof, five new sections of cast iron gutters to match the original have been specially made at the Barr & Grosvenor Foundry in Wolverhampton.
Prince’s Foundation placements Tom Mott and Sam Rowland-Simms working on the roof with Croft Building & Conservation
Northcot Brick, specialist traditional brick manufacturers, has been making by hand 30,000 of the specially sized bricks needed to restore the Main Mill. They are approximately one third larger than standard-sized bricks as they were used for construction during a period when the number of bricks used in new buildings was taxed to raise funds for wars in the American Colonies, and using larger bricks reduced the amount of bricks required, and consequently the amount of tax.
During the Industrial Revolution, the spinning mill was Shrewsbury’s largest employer with more than 800 men, women and children working there manufacturing linen thread from flax. After it closed in 1886, it reopened to produce malt for the brewing industry.
Part of the building served as a barracks for soldiers during the Second World War and finally closed as a maltings in 1987.
The buildings haven’t been used since and fell into decline and were damaged by vandalism. In 2005 Historic England (then English Heritage) carried out urgent repairs. The first milestone in the restoration was in 2015 when, with investment from Historic England and the European Regional Development Fund, the Grade-II-listed office and stables were converted into a small exhibition and visitor centre.
Now the Grade-I-listed Main Mill and the Grade-II-listed kiln are being restored as part of a project funded by a £20.7m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, combined with funding from Historic England, Shropshire Council and the Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings.
The work is scheduled to be completed in 2021.
The Main Mill on the left, during renovation. Copyright Historic England.
Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said: “This moment, seeing the scaffolding coming down after a decade, and the original roof completely restored, is a significant milestone in the project to restore Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings. The sensitively renovated building will create a much-needed hub for the area – of industry, learning and creativity.
“I’d like to thank our contractors, Croft Building and Conservation, who have worked tirelessly to keep the construction schedule on track and have delivered a really high-quality restoration of the Main Mill roof, recreating it in its former glory.”
Alan Mosley, chair of the Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings commented: “It’s fantastic to see the new roof in place and that it has been restored by Croft so sympathetically, using Welsh slate as it would have had when it was first built.”
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