For the Dye House, Milford Mill, Belper, our archive research enabled us to uncover something unexpected about the building: it was originally two separate structures that were modified and joined to enable gangway links to be made with other nearby mill buildings to rationalise circulation across the Milford Mill site. These three gangways connected the dye house with the old dye house across the goyt to the east, across the road to the south and into the mill building to the north.
With this understanding, the building phases could then be read more easily in the existing fabric, including the different types and sections of cast iron columns, infilled openings, new openings, the modified rhythm to the fenestration and altered internal floor levels.
The Strutt Family were talented engineers who played an important role in the evolution of fireproof technology in the late 18th and 19th centuries in the Derwent Valley, having partnered with Arkwright at Derby Mill and then going on to form the ‘English Sewing Cotton Company’ in 1897.
The Dye House features early Boulton & Watt style cruciform cast iron columns combined with the later fireproof brick vaults pioneered by Strutt. It was interesting to note that an extension to the building on the west side was added to connect it into the New Dye House, indicated by the later circular section of the columns in that location. The whole site went through multiple phases of development as technological advances in spinning machinery and processes were made.
Sadly, many of the other large buildings were demolished in the 1960s after the mill was reorganised and then more recently following the closure of the mill in the 1990s to make way for a modern redevelopment. The Dye House fortunately survived, most likely because it had frontage to the road and its lesser scale more easily accommodated alternative uses. Indeed, its modified form enabled its use outside of the textile industry which had undergone rapid decline after international competition increased from the 1950s onwards.
HUL produced a Heritage Statement to support a listed building consent application to bring the Dye House back into beneficial use as a veterinary practice and help secure its long-term future. The historic adaptation of the Dye House structure enabled its retention within the mill complex and saved it from demolition, and with the proposed minor alterations the building it could continue to be used for the long-term future: an example where the capacity for a building to be modified and adapted for new uses has retained its relevance and supported its conservation.
It was a really interesting building to research, and we hope the additional information uncovered during our work will enhance the understanding and appreciation of this interesting building and its context within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
