Flaxmill Maltings

Today I went to visit the Flaxmill Maltings in Shrewsbury as part of the Heritage Open days. It is the first iron framed building in the world and is described as the world's first skyscraper. 

It was built as a flax mill, the iron frame was an experiment as flax mills tended to burn down. When this closed it became a maltings that produced the malt for beer. This closed in the 1980s and was empty for many years. It is now Grade 1 listed, and belongs to Historic England and being restored.

There are several buildings to look at on the site and we went on a tour so that we could see parts that were not generally on view and to hear all the history from an expert. It was very interesting and we climbed to the top of the tower in the centre of the shot. There's a platform up there that gives tremendous views all the way round - we had to hold on to our hard hats because it was very windy! The extra photo is a view from the top.

The metal crown on the top of the tower was put there to commemorate Queen Victoria's Jubilee, .we were standing just underneath it.

There is more information about it here.