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Shaddon Mill, Carlisle
Shaddon Mill
Dixon's Mill
site name:-   Shaddon Mill Race (?) 
Street:-   Junction Street
locality:-   Caldewgate
civil parish:-   Carlisle (formerly Cumberland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   mill
coordinates:-   NY39515562
1Km square:-   NY3955
10Km square:-   NY35


photograph
BYB53.jpg (taken 5.4.2013)  

evidence:-   old map:- OS County Series (Cmd 23 7) 
placename:-  Shaddon Works
source data:-   Maps, County Series maps of Great Britain, scales 6 and 25 inches to 1 mile, published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hampshire, from about 1863 to 1948.
"Shaddon Works (Cotton Spinning & Weaving) / Chimney / Gasometer"

evidence:-   database:- Listed Buildings 2010
placename:-  Shaddon Mill
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"SHADDON MILL / / JUNCTION STREET / CARLISLE / CARLISLE / CUMBRIA / II[star] / 386773 / NY3951455628"
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"Cotton factory, now industrial units. 1835-6 for Peter Dixon by Richard Tattersall. Squared blocks of red sandstone on chamfered plinth with ashlar quoins; ashlar eaves band and solid parapet. Roof, not visible from ground, is of slate with skylights; detached chimney is listed separately. Large 7-storey, 22-bay factory with 5-bay returns; lower-left single-bay return engine house and 2-storey, 7-bay boiler house; built with fireproof floors. Junction Street facade; at each end bays project slightly for full height. Regularly-spaced casement windows which are C20, in original stone surround with hood cornices. The right return has projecting central 3 bays; the last bay on the right is for loading and has enlarged loading doorways (probably original). The left return has many blind windows. Engine house has large casement window with glazing bars in stone architrave and dentilled cornice. Boiler house has casement windows similar to the main factory. Rear of boiler house has plank doors under Diocletian windows, some with original radial glazing bars."
"INTERIOR of factory has off-centre stone stair around lift shaft (could be a later insertion). Cast-iron pillars support girders and brick vaulted ceilings; floor tiles are stamped R. ASHTON &CO, BUCKLEY (Flintshire). Carlisle Journal (1835) records the laying of the foundations. The boilers were installed in April and May 1836, Carlisle Journal (1836). For illustration see Pevsner (1967); however, he incorrectly gives Robert Tattersall as the architect."

evidence:-   database:- Listed Buildings 2010
placename:-  Dixons Chimney
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"DIXONS CHIMNEY AT SHADDON MILL / / JUNCTION STREET / CARLISLE / CARLISLE / CUMBRIA / II[star] / 386774 / NY3946255644"
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"Chimney for adjoining Shaddon Mill. 1836 for Peter Dixon by Richard Tattersall. English bond brickwork with flush red sandstone quoins. Octagonal tapering shaft without plinth or cap; iron tie-bands at the top and bottom. Over 100 metres high and when built was the largest chimney in the country. Carlisle Journal (1836) records the laying of the last stone on the chimney. Damaged by lightning in 1931 and it was necessary to take off the top 10 metres in 1950 for safety reasons. Now about 270 feet tall. In a prominent position at road junction and a recognisable landmark visible for many miles around. (Carlisle Journal: 29 October 1836)."

evidence:-   old painting:- 
item:-  water wheel
source data:-   Painting, watercolour, Junction Street, Showing Denton Mill and Dixon's Chimney, Carlisle, Cumberland, by William Henry Nutter, 1863.
image  click to enlarge
PR1257.jpg
To left of composition a mill stands beside a river flowing horizontally across composition; it is spanned by a single span stone bridge. In centre of composition a couple stand conversing in the yard outside a group of small buildings which are dwarfed by Dixon's factory towering above them, its chimney smoking. To right of composition there stands a small ramshackle building with a large wooden barrel outside, its double doors thrown open and the figure of a man visible inside. 
item:-  Tullie House Museum : 1978.108.79
Image © Tullie House Museum

hearsay:-  
225 feet long, 60 feet wide, 7 storeys or 83 feet high; this was the largest cotton mill in England when it opened 1826. It was designed for Peter Dixon by Robert Tattersal, architect, Manchester, built by Nixon and Denton. The machinery was designed by William Fairbairn. The 305 foot chimney was built by Richard Wright, and was the highest structure in the world.

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