The Stanley Mills woolen mill at Ryeford,

King's Stanley King's Stanley is a village in Gloucestershire, England, situated southwest of the town of Stroud. The village is part of what is known locally as 'The Stanleys', along with its neighbours Leonard Stanley and Stanley Downton. Marling Close, whic ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England was built in the early 19th century. The main building is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

There had been mills on the site for many years but the current mill was built in 1813 and expanded around 1825. The mill was powered by water in the River Frome. A lodge house was built for the owners in 1815, at the same time as some ancillary buildings for storage and supply of the mill. It was originally owned by Joseph Wathen who sold it to George Harris and Donald Maclean in 1813 during construction. From 1842, it was owned by the Marling family and became a public company, known as Marling and Evans in 1920. The mill was originally powered by five waterwheels. A steam engine was added in 1834. In 1854, a power loom shed was added. In 1884, a fire broke out damaging the roof, however most of the structure survived with minimal damage. Production at the mill ceased in the 1980s. In 2017, new plans were announced to turn the mill into flats and build new houses. The main building is now on

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

Heritage at Risk An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for actio ...

Architecture

The

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

framing within the "L"-shaped five-storey main building consists of columns and trusses which hold up red brick vaults proving space for the machinery in what was designed to be a fireproof building. The ironwork came from the

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

casting works of Bejamin Gibbon and the bricks from the

London Brick Company The London Brick Company, owned by Forterra plc, is a leading British manufacturer of bricks. History The London Brick Company owes its origins to John Cathles Hill, a developer-architect who built houses in London and Peterborough. In 1889, ...

. The materials were transported by water finishing with the Stroudwater Canal. The lodge, which was built for the mill owners, has

Flemish bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...

brickwork with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

dressings. Various ancillary buildings were built of similar materials. The stone power loom shed is of four storeys and is supported on limestone pillars spanning the river.

References

External links

* {{Commons category inline, Stanley Mills, King's Stanley Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire Grade I listed water mills Buildings and structures completed in 1813 Stroud District Watermills in Gloucestershire