Centenary Mill Court Apartments
Centenary Mill Property Management Services
Centenary Mill Court, Preston, Lancs, PR1 5JH
Built by the John Horrocks Company in 1891 to mark 100 years of successful cotton manufacture in Preston it is an imposing building, comprising 5 floors of 50,000 sq. ft. each and is listed Grade 2. It sits on a high escarpment dominating the south and east of the town. The massive power house chimney is a key landmark feature.
With the decline of cotton manufacture the Mill became a warehousing and distribution centre and by the 1980s was disused.
From the founding of John Horrock's first mill, TheYellow Factory, built in 1791 the cotton industry was the main driving force of economic growth in Preston throughout much of the nineteenth century. A new industrial society was created in the process as Preston's population grew from 11,887 people in 1801 to 69,391 in 1851. Preston's favourable location in relation to rural labour became an important factor in facilitating such rapid expansion and by the middle of the century more than half the town's inhabitants had been born elsewhere.
Served by population growth of 40% per decade in the 1830's and 1840's, Preston had 64 cotton mills with more than one million spindles employing 20,000 people. Employment peaked at 25,000 just before the outbreak of the American Civil War and no new mills were constructed in the period after 1860 until the closing years of the century when a series of dramatic takeover and rebuildings culminated in the construction of enormous joint stock spinning mills between 1890 and the First World War. Centenary Mill, built in 1891, was one of four monumental giants erected in this final phase. As the name implies, the opening of the mill celebrated 100 years of successful trading by Horrockses, 'The Greatest Name in Cotton' and the most substantial industrial enterprise Preston has ever seen. Outwardly, the mill retained the fashionable architectural facade deemed tasteful by the Shareholders of the day — one can imagine its owners admiring its majesty in the soft glow of summer evening light. Inwardly, Centenary Mill had a revolutionary steel frame, allowing a greater weight to be supported within the structure, permitting the inclusion of larger, more numerous windows.
The Mill is located close to Preston Town Centre on the main A59 link to Junction 31 of the M6 (approximately 2 miles away) and within a short walk of its junction with the A6. Totalling 203,000 square feet, arranged on five levels, the building truly stands head and shoulders above other property in its environs. The project will restore the fabric of the mill and reinstate original features whilst balancing the need to make positive alterations that will enhance the scheme and accommodation.
Please call Mark Walsh on 0787 264 7902 to discuss how we can tailor our services to your specific needs.