Otley Mills, Ilkley Road, Otley, West Yorkshire. Building Recording (OASIS ID: eddennis1-411415)
Ed Dennison, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1083542. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Ed Dennison unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Ed Dennison Archaeological Services Ltd
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 3899
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1083542
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
In October 2019, Ed Dennison Archaeological Services Ltd (EDAS) were commissioned by Andrew Hillas Properties Ltd, through their planning consultant Mr Robert Beal of Plan B Planning and Design Ltd, to undertake an archaeological structural watching brief prior to and during the demolition of parts of the Otley Mills complex, Ilkley Road, Otley, West Yorkshire (NGR SE 19189 45190 centred). The project involved a targeted archaeological and architectural survey of the former engine house, the economiser house, and the boiler house and chimney, all located at the south-west corner of the mill complex, as well as the former warehouse/office structure on the Ilkley Road frontage (Unit G) and the weaving shed to the rear (Unit C). This was achieved through a photographic, drawn and descriptive record, augmented by a basic level of documentary research and a targeted watching brief during demolition, all brought together in a survey report. The fieldwork was undertaken between November 2019 and January 2020, and the project was funded by Andrew Hillas Properties Ltd. The weaving shed and the earliest associated ancillary buildings were erected in c.1857. The shed housed power looms, which represented an early development to supplement the worsted spinning, which had been undertaken elsewhere within the mill complex since the early 19th century, with worsted weaving. This created an integrated mill, the most common type of mill seen in Yorkshire by the 1870s.
There were several different phases of development at the Otley complex, mostly between c.1857 and 1916, but also after 1935. The weaving shed was of a standard form, concealed behind the warehouse/office range fronting the Ilkley Road. The earliest power source for the looms in the shed was provided by a steam engine located in the southern engine house attached to the shed’s external south-west corner. This engine house preserved evidence for what may be the original stone engine bed, various other internal arrangements, and the remnants of an early decorative painted scheme to the first floor. The general arrangement of the building suggests that a vertical engine, rather than a beam engine, was present, and power was transferred to a main east-west drive shaft on the south wall of the weaving shed, and from this to the looms via bevel wheels to countershafts or line shafts. The original boiler house for the southern engine house must have stood to the west, between it and the free-standing chimney; there may or may not have been an associated economiser house. Subsequent alterations had removed much of the original boiler house, although it is possible that parts of it could be seen in the north gable of the later, recorded, structure.
At a later date, but before 1891, another engine house was built onto the north end of the southern engine house, and possibly partly over the east wall of the earlier boiler house. The size of the northern engine house might suggest that a tandem-compound style horizontal steam engine was installed. It is not known if it initially assisted the engine in the southern engine house, or if it replaced it as the sole power source. Once again, power was transferred to the weaving shed via a bearing box in the north engine house’s east wall. After the northern engine house had been built, but again before 1891, the boiler house was enlarged, most probably by raising it in height and extending to the north. Although later alterations make any detailed interpretation difficult, it is likely to have contained two parallel Lancashire boilers, aligned northsouth, with coal brought to fuel the boilers via the south end of the building; the recorded south gable was built after 1908 and results from a later extension of the boiler house to the south. The later boiler house also had an economiser house at its north end by 1891. The post-1891 economiser house underwent several modifications between 1891 and 1935, although the surviving structural evidence related to two main phases.
The horizontal steam engine in the northern engine house was eventually replaced by electrical power, probably during the early 20th century. The engine was removed from the building, and a first floor inserted. The boilers and associated equipment were also subsequently removed from the boiler house, and it was given over to other functions.
