Textile Mills: Introduction to Heritage Assets

Miller, Ian

Abstract

The textile industry formed a crucial element of England’s economic
base from the medieval period onwards, whilst the mechanisation of the production processes and the introduction of the factory-based system in the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in distinctive types of vernacular and industrial buildings, townscapes and landscapes across the country. The commanding architecture of textile mills has become a key characteristic of industrial towns, imparting a powerful sense of place that in some cases has been enhanced by appropriate adaptation of redundant buildings for new uses, creatively adapting to the challenges that often need to be addressed when securing the long-term future of these monumental structures in a post-industrial age.

Citation

Miller, I. (2024). Textile Mills: Introduction to Heritage Assets. [Digital]. Swindon

• Other Type: Manual / Guide
• Online Publication Date: Feb 26, 2024
• Publication Date: Jan 26, 2024
• Deposit Date: Feb 16, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Pages: 24
• Keywords: textile mills, heritage assets
• Related Public URLs: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/selection-criteria/ihas/
• Additional Information: Historic England’s ‘Introductions to Heritage Assets’ (IHAs) are intended to provide accessible, authoritative, illustrated summaries of what is known about specific types of archaeological site, building, landscape or marine asset. Typically, they address subjects that lack such a summary, as a result of either a huge volume of available literature or lack of written work. Most often it is the latter, and many IHAs bring understanding of sites or building types that are neglected or poorly understood. Many of these are what might be thought of as ‘new heritage’, dating to the second half of the 20th century.