Report - Brough, Nicholson & Hall Royal York Mill, Staffordshire, December 2022

[mingerocket]

Ive been hoping to get a look around this old place for ages. I used to walk past the old mill every day on my way to and from work and always imagined what may be left inside, the boarded up windows not offering even a peek inside only made me more curious.
So, waiting in traffic on Friday evening i noticed that that the two padlocks on the loading door were missing, now was the time.
So off i went to town the next morning, supposedly to do some last minute Xmas shopping. Id already been told be "her indoors" that id better not be planning on going skulking around the mill id been harping on about all night so i went armed only with my phone for the quickest explore ever. Middle of town on the busiest shopping day of the year meant the in and out had to be swift and well timed - so in we go.

But first, some history

Brough Nicholson & Hall were once one of the biggest employers in the town. The Royal York Mill is the tall, rectangular, flat roofed one shown towards the top of the first image (pinched from the internet) . A number of the other buildings survive to this day in various states; some derelict and some converted in to apartments. The large London Mill on the top right of the image lays semi derelict but currently in use as storage. From what im told the building is pretty unimpressive inside. On an interesting note, York mill and London mill are connected by an underground service tunnel that carries various pipework including a reasonably modern sprinkler main amongst other services.

The business was founded by John Brough, a silk manufacturer in about 1812. After his early efforts, his sons, Joshua, James and John took over the mantle. The brothers had a factory built on Union Street in 1844 and later took on partners, Joshua Nicholson and B.B. Nixon to became J. and J. Brough, Nicholson & Co. in 1863. Soon after a warehouse was built on Cross Street in about 1865, close to Hope Mill on Fountain Street. In less than ten years this mill had been acquired and extended to twice its original size. The partnership was employing 630 workers in 1891. Following a series of changes in the partnership due to deaths and retirements, the firm became Brough, Nicholson & Hall in 1891. The partners soon embarked on a new scheme of development involving the extension of the Cross Street building, and the building of a new mill on Well Street (known from 1900 as Royal York Mill). Around this time the firm also took over the Cecily Mills in Cheadle. In 1968 many of the firms' buildings were demolished, and in 1983 Brough, Nicholson & Hall sold their only remaining premises, Cross Street Mill, to Berisfords, the Congleton ribbon firm

The Royal York Mill was constructed in 1898, the original name of the mill is unclear but it was renamed to Royal York in 1890 following a visit from the Duke of York. Once the Brough Nicholson & Hall empire came to an end, the mill changed hands. Various companies have occupied the building including; York Mill Silk Knitters Ltd, Carina Sportswear Ltd and Italiana Neckwear Limited. Italiana were in operations here until the early 1990's, and most of odds and sods left in the mill look to be from this decade. The place is full of ties and other neckwear items in various stages of production, from raw materials and spools of cotton to complete ties in a wide array of colours.


The top floor looks like it was used for storage, and was home to racking, old equipment, yarn, scales, junk and a flock of sky rats that had done their best to cover everything with a layer of shite. The ground floor is the most impressive and is home to various machines and their associated spare parts, hundreds of ties, a nice old office full of retro 90s items and a couple of fossilised pot plants. There is a doorway that i could not get through and from the exterior of the building this looks like it may have been some kind of plant room or workshop.
The stairways are decorated with gorgous glazed brick in various colours and some of the details are really nice. Im not usually a big fan of mills but this one was a good one and the winter morning sun made for some good lighting. The basement/service tunnel had a nice atmosphere and traffic could be heard passing overhead. The old goods lift down here looked like something out of a horror film and there is a nice old dry system sprinkler set and top up compressor.

The explore

I had to be quick as i didnt really want to get caught, this place couldn't be much more local and i try to keep my exploring and normal life as separate as possible. I rushed around pretty quick and armed only with my phone some of the photos were tricky to get, especially on the darkened ground floor and basement. Sent a quick selfie to my handbrake, of myself in the office on the old phone, out of the door and off to the shops. I did head back only this evening with the real camera and tripod hoping to get some better photos of the service tunnel. However the police were parked outside and a shiny new padlock had been fitted to the door.

Hope you enjoy the photos, all my own apart from the first image and the aerial photos "borrowed" form the internet.

 

[Mikeymutt]

Come out nice on your phone. My best mate was working next to iy and was some guy stood near an open door, said they were going to start converting the first half.

 

[tweek]

10/10

 

[HughieD]

Superb millage. Great pix.

 

[MotionlessMike]

An excellent mill.

What phone do you use?

 

[jST]

Superb mate, kept wondering about this one as I drive past it regularly as a new-ish local.

 

[mingerocket]

An excellent mill.

What phone do you use?

Oppo X5. It has wide angle mode which is great indoors. To be honest it outperforms the battered old Sony DSLR on most occasions. On a tripod it would be perfect.

 

[HughieD]

Oppo X5. It has wide angle mode which is great indoors. To be honest it outperforms the battered old Sony DSLR on most occasions. On a tripod it would be perfect.

I'm in the same space. My Canon DSLR is shagged! Phone pics always better.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Lovely old mill there. Typical mill style, lovely peel. amazing tiles in that lower level. Images came out great. Kudos

 

[mingerocket]

Update, the little annex/Workshop. It was dark unfortunately but still to good an opportunity to pass up.
Nothing much inside apart from a nice big air compressor, and yet more stinking pigeons.

At least I got the opportunity to get a few more shots of the tunnels