More information : An early 20th century weaving mill power unit. Surviving structures include an engine house containing an in situ cross-compound steam engine and the boiler house with 2 Lancashire boilers and a Green's Economiser (for reheating and pumping water back into the boilers). Both buildings are of stone construction. Grane Mill opened in 1907 and operated until 1979. Scheduled. (1)
The Scheduled part of the site includes: the boiler house containing two Lancashire boilers and a Green's economiser; the engine house which contains a 500hp cross-compound steam engine with cylinders of 46cm and 92cm built by the nearby Laneside Foundry, donkey engine, generator, switchgear and part of the second motion shaft; and a water tank above part of the boiler house and the mill chimney. The engine house is of stone construction with a slate roof, and is now a Scheduled Monument. Access to the engine hall is provided by a flight of stone steps leading up to an entrance on the building's north side. There are windows either side of and above the entrance, and two large windows at the opposite end of the engine hall. Below the engine, stone steps lead down to a basement where the engine beds are located. Internally the engine hall's walls are tiled to roof level. There is a door in the west wall giving access into the adjacent boiler house. The original engine eventually drove over 1100 looms and generated all the electricity for the mill. The engine consists of high pressure and low pressure cylinders, piston rods, a 4.8m diameter fly wheel, a donkey engine for firing the engine first thing in the morning or for slow running during maintenance, a rope-driven generator built by Metropolitan Vickers of Manchester and Sheffield together with an adjacent switchgear box and part of the second motion shaft, which ran the length of the mill and drove the looms. In one corner of the engine hall there is a timber office and storeroom which is thought to have been installed in the 1940s. The adjacent boiler house is of stone construction and originally had a slate and glass roof, much of which has fallen in, supported on a cast iron framework. There are two large, shuttered openings on the boiler house's north side. Internally the boiler house is flag-floored. On the ground floor are two Lancashire boilers built by Yates and Tom of Blackburn, one of which was installed in 1907, the other five years later. The latter boiler possesses an in-situ automatic stoker manufactured by James Hodgkinson of Salford and fitted in the 1950s. At basement level are the boiler flues and drains whilst at first floor level, to the rear of the boilers, there is a Green's economiser built by Greens and Son of Wakefield which reheated water for pumping back into the boilers. On the roof above the economiser is a cast iron water tank. Adjacent is the mill chimney standing about 45m tall. It is of brick construction, round with a slight taper, complete with both crown and collar, and has the name 'GRANE' prominently displayed towards the top. The modern heating system in the engine hall consisting of radiators, pipes and a stove is excluded from the scheduling, although the fabric upon which it is affixed is included. (2) |