Report - Congleton Engineering Developments Ltd, Davenshaw Mill (Congleton, Cheshire, Sept, 2019)

[urbanchemist]

Driving through Congleton I came across this place - it didn’t seem to have been reported before so I went for a look.
It was almost completely empty - big spaces smelling of metal and machine oil and some offices.

History. An 1875 map shows this as Davenshaw Silk Mill, although the original buildings have been extended.
The mill, one of several in Congleton, was run by the Hogg family for over 100 years. It sits in a meander in the Dane Shaw Brook and would originally have been water-powered, with the head provided by a weir, which is still there.
Congleton Engineering Developments Ltd operated on the site from ~ 1973 to 2017, and there is now planning approval for housing.

Pictures are ordered from the basement up.

There were several neat holes cut in the ground floor with heaps of spoil next to them.
These were probably just to check what the foundations were like but the location - next to the weir - had me wondering if someone was looking for remains of the original water power setup.
I didn’t take any pictures, but there were definitely some brick structures down there.

The weir with the mill on the left.

 

[Wheaters]

Good pictures. I hope the last typist to use that typewriter got sacked...

 

[tigger]

Originally called 'Nearer Daneinshaw Mill' and probably at that time a flint mill. During the 1770's converted to a cotton spinning mill. Shown on Burdetts 1777 map of Cheshire (waterwheel symbol) though not named. For years the owners (along with MOST cotton spinning mills) were in dispute with Richard Arkwright sueing everyone for huge licence fees for patent infiringements. Arkwright eventually lost in 1871 when the judges ruled that his patent was 'obscure and unintelligible'. However, the lengthy court battles did bankrupt a lot of his competitors. Four years later he managed to get the decision overturned. More battle in court saw Arkwright eventually lose all his patents when it was proved many were not actually his inventions....
...back to this site....around 1790 it became known as Davenshaw Mill and now being used as a silk mill. In 1818 Henry Hogg was a tennant of the mill (which had largely been stripped of it's machinery apart from a brand new cast waterwheel) and by 1825 was listed as the owner and by 1840 it was again fully fitted out for silk throwing. Steam was first used to power the mill in 1874. By the 1890s the silk business was dead and the mill was used for shirt making
Messrs Hogg & Son were prosecuted for employing under age children in 1897 and around 1909 when Capel Wilson Hogg died the mill was rented out. Sold to Jonathan Hopkins after WW1 and then to Congleton Engineering in 1979

 

[Camera Shy]

Quite photogenic despite its emptiness, well spotted.

 

[Baggy trousers]

Despite its emptyness that's pretty ace

 

[HughieD]

Another top-notch report UC. Loving the old type-writer.

 

[urbanchemist]

Originally called 'Nearer Daneinshaw Mill' and probably at that time a flint mill. During the 1770's converted to a cotton spinning mill. Shown on Burdetts 1777 map of Cheshire (waterwheel symbol) though not named. For years the owners (along with MOST cotton spinning mills) were in dispute with Richard Arkwright sueing everyone for huge licence fees for patent infiringements. Arkwright eventually lost in 1871 when the judges ruled that his patent was 'obscure and unintelligible'. However, the lengthy court battles did bankrupt a lot of his competitors. Four years later he managed to get the decision overturned. More battle in court saw Arkwright eventually lose all his patents when it was proved many were not actually his inventions....
...back to this site....around 1790 it became known as Davenshaw Mill and now being used as a silk mill. In 1818 Henry Hogg was a tennant of the mill (which had largely been stripped of it's machinery apart from a brand new cast waterwheel) and by 1825 was listed as the owner and by 1840 it was again fully fitted out for silk throwing. Steam was first used to power the mill in 1874. By the 1890s the silk business was dead and the mill was used for shirt making
Messrs Hogg & Son were prosecuted for employing under age children in 1897 and around 1909 when Capel Wilson Hogg died the mill was rented out. Sold to Jonathan Hopkins after WW1 and then to Congleton Engineering in 1979

Thanks for the history - much better than my half-hearted attempt.

 

[host]

Nice report. Pity about the shell like features still goes to show there’s places yet to be explored.

 

[charlierose44]

sorry to update you all... its been knocked down and made into houses now