Details
LANCASTER
SD4861 MOOR LANE
1685-1/5/187 (North side)
03/08/82 Mill Hall, Moor Lane Mill North
(Formerly Listed as:
MOOR LANE
(North East side)
Rear wing of Moor Lane North Mill,
adjacent to Lancaster Canal)
GV II
Former mill, now student accommodation. c1800, steam-powered
worsted factory, converted into cotton spinning factory by
1828. Heightened by 3 feet and re-roofed, probably c1830, with
south-east lift tower added by 1877. Production ceased 1975,
and converted into student accommodation 1988-89.
Walls battered, of squared coursed sandstone, with slate roof.
Of fireproof construction, with vaulted brick floors carried
on cast-iron beams and columns, with original flagstones now
replaced by concrete. Roof of timber spars and purlins between
sectional cast-iron trusses.
Rectangular plan alongside the Lancaster Canal, with coped
gables, the cap of a ventilation shaft at the southern apex,
and with a truncated chimney stack against the north gable.
Re-entrant south-east corner filled by lift tower of
darker-coloured stone.
5 main storeys, with basement storey and attic expressed on
west side. The east facade, facing the canal, is of 10 bays,
the left-hand bay belonging to the lift tower. An external
iron fire escape, now non-functional, extends across the 2
right-hand bays. Plain ashlar frieze below the eaves, added
when the roof was raised. The roof slope now contains C20
rooflights. The south gable wall contains windows to the lift
tower, restored after demolition of adjoining buildings, with
rusticated round-arched heads. The entrance is now through a
Doric porch, added by Charles B Pearson Son & Partners
(Architects) as part of the restoration. The west wall is also
of 10 bays and has a central gabled round-arched loading door
at attic level.
HISTORY: the worsted mill was built by Thomas Higgin & Co.
Thomas was the second son of John Higgin Senior, Governor of
the Castle. In 1828 it was recorded as a cotton mill owned by
Burrow, Higgin & Co. In 1846 it was purchased by John Greg,
who then owned Moor Lane Mill South (qv). In 1861 it was sold
to Storey Brothers, who operated it until its closure. The
original engine house occupied the north bay of the mill and
rose through 4 storeys, and evidence found during conversion
work suggested that the mill was designed from the outset to
house a beam engine. The engine bay was floored over in 1929.
Conversion work involved demolition of some later additions,
provision of new emergency stairs in the north-east corner, a
new hydraulic lift in the lift shaft, and sub-division into
study bedrooms.
(Leather, GM: Moor Lane Mill (North) Lancaster: a Brief
Outline: 1989-).
Listing NGR: SD4807461710
