Bliss Mill

I have taken a photo today (the rose extra) but I've also done a lot of sorting and editing. This blip of Bliss Mill was taken last week when we went to Chipping Norton and I thought it was a lot more interesting than an emergency rose. The edit was 'created' today!

Bliss Tweed Mill is a former mill for the manufacture of tweed. It is located on the edge of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. It became a Grade II* listed building in 1980.

The mill was built in 1872 for cloth manufacturer William Bliss, to make fine tweed cloth from locally produced wool. It was designed by the architect George Woodhouse of Bolton, who also designed mills in Lancashire, including Victoria Mill in Miles Platting; Woodhouse was also involved in the construction of Bolton Town Hall.

The main 5-storey spinning building is faced with local limestone and styled to resemble a country house, with square towers at each corner topped by stone urns. Unusually, a large chimney for the furnace to power the mill's steam machinery issues from a dome at the top of a circular tower built into one façade. The chimneystack is styled as a tall Tuscan column. Inside, the building is supported by cast iron columns that carry beams bearing brick vaults. An adjacent lower building was used for weaving the tweed cloth.

The millworkers went on strike for eight months from December 1913 to June 1914, over the right of workers to join a trades union, but the mill prospered in the First World War after receiving a large order for khaki cloth for the British Army.

The mill closed in 1980 and was converted into residential apartments in around 1988.

I've been meaning to get an image of the mill for years, this is the first time there has been a parking space when we have driven by. It was raining or I would have walked down the hill and got a better angle on it. Maybe next time.

In other news - Sainsbury's delivery this morning, and a Skype with daughter#2 this afternoon. She has been to church, a possibility for the wedding next year. I'd better start thinking about my speech.

One year ago:
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