Preston's Listed Buildings - TULKETH MILL

Preston's Listed Buildings

TULKETH MILL

TULKETH MILL

Heritage Category: Listed Building (Grade II)

List Entry Number: 1207235

Location: Balcarres Road, Ashton-on-Ribble

CHIMNEY TO TULKETH MILL

Heritage Category: Listed Building (Grade II)

List Entry Number: 1279845

Location: Balcarres Road, Ashton-on-Ribble

Tulketh Mill is a former Edwardian cotton-spinning mill in Balcarres Road, Tulketh. It was designed by Frederick Whittaker Dixon of Oldham and built for the Tulketh Spinning Company in 1905. The building is currently used to house offices for a number of different companies. An earlier Tulketh Mill stood in Water Lane, Preston, until it was destroyed by fire in June 1883.

Looking back at an old aerial photograph, it is surprising to see it almost alone in the field, next to allotments, west of the railway line. How times have changed.

Tulketh Mill, Preston from the Air

The architect Frederick Whittaker Dixon was born in Oldham on 16th April 1854 and died in Southport on 16th November 1935. He was part of the Architectural practice of Potts, Pickup and Dixon (with Partners, and fellow Methodists, George Pickup & Edward Potts) between 1880 and 1889. He established his own practice in 1889. He later formed a partnership with his only son Ernest Alfred Dixon. That appears to be around the time the mill at Tulketh was bring constructed. It is likely he started the work prior to the partnership, but completed it during the partnership.

Tulketh Mill. A former Edwardian cotton-spinning mill in Preston

Tulketh Mill, Preston of Balcarres Road, Preston.

1906 'TULKETH MILL ENGINES CHRISTENED. '.... the engines just installed in the Tulketh Spinning Co. Ltd.’s, new mill, Preston. The mill is the largest devoted to spinning in the town, and will be most perfectly equipped. The machinery, from Platt Bros., of Oldham, is of the highest class, and will be adapted to deal with American and Egyptian yarns from 40’s to 120’s on the mule and 36's upwards on the rings. The high and low pressure engines, of the horizontal cross compound type, were named respectively "Ashton and Preston.” The engines have been constructed by Messrs. Woods, of Bolton, and have been so arranged that they are easy of access in every part. The horse-power is 1,600, and the working pressure 160lb.

The Tulketh Cotton spinning mill built by Thomas Croft. The foundation stone was lain on 13th May 1905 by the Mayoress of Preston and the mill was completed in 1906. The mill was fitted with a horizontal cross compound engine made by J & E Wood. Initially four Lancashire boilers were installed with a fifth Yorkshire boiler being added at a later date.

In 1918 the mill was expanded to increase the spindleage capacity to 127,400 mule spindles and 12,600 ring spinning machines. The extension was constructed on supporting pillars over a reservoir. The mill is 42 bays long by 13 bays wide, and provides maximum window area. The engine house is six bays long and is located at the south-east end of the complex. The mill has internal cast iron pillars and steel beams with a concrete floor, it is clad with red and yellow bricks.

Tulketh Mill-Spinning Co. Ltd. Preston - Cotton Spinners

The building has a very large rectangular plan on a north to south axis, with a staircase and sprinkler tower on west side, an office block in angle to the south, a stair turret at the north-west corner, an extractor duct turret at the south-east corner, and a large engine house attached at right angles to main range on the north side. It is of five storeys, with a basement, and is of four by twelve bays, with pilasters between the bays, and a parapet with upstands over the pilasters. Large rectangular windows filling each bay on each floor, all with 11-pane glazing and three-course yellow brick heads. The tower has a shallow three-storey toilet block projected on the west side, with a ramped parapet, but is otherwise square.

Thomas Croft was a familiar figure in the Preston building trade in the mid-1960s having control of a business begun in 1874 when his namesake grandfather, who died in 1923, founded Thomas Croft & Sons operating from premises off St Paul’s Road, behind the Imperial Terrace.

Among the structures credited to his pioneering grandfather were numerous cotton mills and upwards of 20 tall chimneys, including those at the Horrockses Centenary Mill and the Tulketh Mill.

The mill's original free-standing chimney has a tapered cylindrical form; it is very tall and is lettered "TULKETH" near the top. It was originally fitted with an anti back draught cap. In the 1930s this cap was removed when the mill chimney was lowered in height.

Tulketh Mill's free-standing chimney has a tapered cylindrical form

The Mill closed in 1968. At the time of (Historic England) listing in 1991 the building was in use as a mail-order warehouse and offices.

The Tulketh Spinning Company Ltd.,
Employees. Preston Guild 1922

Panoramic image of employees and staff on the open ground at the west side of the mill. Under enlargement two men can be seen in the back row with their hands over their hearts. It has been suggested this could be in memory of friends or relatives lost in the Great War that ended four years earlier.