The growth of the town came with the arrival of canals and with the growth of the cotton industry in the later 18th century.[1] Before this, the earliest listed buildings are houses, farmhouses, and a church with items in its churchyard. Buildings associated with the canals include an aqueduct and a bridge. Listed buildings from the 19th century include more churches and houses, civic buildings, schools, cotton mills that were later used for other purposes, railway viaducts, and a commemorative tower. Listed buildings from the 20th century include war memorials, a theatre, and a telephone kiosk.
A cruck-framed house with brick walls, rendered at the rear, and a stone-slate roof, both dating from the 18th century. There are two storeys, three bays, and a right cross-wing. The windows are casements. Inside there are three cruck trusses, an inglenook, and a bressumer.[3][4]
Although some earlier fabric remains, most of the church results from a series of episodes of rebuilding in the 19th century, with the tower added in 1886–88 by J. S. Crowther, and the north porch in about 1920. The older part of the church is in sandstone and the later parts in gritstone, and the church is mainly in Perpendicular style. It consists of a nave and clerestory, north and south aisles, all of which have embattledparapets, north and south porches, a chancel, and a west tower. The tower has four stages, buttresses rising to crocketedpinnacles, a west doorway with a moulded surround, clock faces, and a pierced embattled parapet. The east window has seven lights.[5][6]
The wall and gate piers are in stone. The gate piers are square, with moulded bases and caps, and have acorn finials. The walls have round-topped coping.[3][7]
A stone farmhouse with a stone-slate roof, two storeys, and four bays. The first bay is gabled, and the fourth bay is a later addition. The windows are mullioned, and inside is an inglenook.[8][9]
The farmhouse is timber framed and later encased in brick, and the cottage, dated 1710, is in stone and forms a cross-wing to the left. They have stone-slate roofs and two storeys. The house has three gabledbays, a rear lean-to extension, and doors and windows with stone sills and lintels. The cottage has two bays and a doorway with a moulded surround and dated lintel, now blocked. There is one mullioned window, and the others date from later.[10]
Basically a cruck-framed hall with many alterations and extensions. The walls are rendered and the roof is in stone-slate. There are two storeys, three bays, and a rear wing. On the front is a 19th-century porch, and windows of various types, some having architraves, and lintels decorated with rosettes. Inside the cross-walls are timber framed, and the party wall has a cruck truss and wattle and daubinfill.[3][11]
A stone farmhouse with quoins, a continuous hood mould, an eavescornice, and a stone-slate roof. It has two storeys, a four-bay main range, a wing to the rear right, and a left cross-wing. The doorway has Doric columns, a large lintel, and a pediment. Some windows are casements, some are sashes, and some were mullioned with the mullions removed.[12]
The farmhouse was extended in the 18th century with the addition of a wing. It is in stone with a slate roof, and has two storeys and an irregular plan, consisting of a main range of three bays, a wing to the right, and a right lean-to. The windows are mullioned.[8][13]
The headstone is adjacent to the north porch of St Michael's Church. It carries a long inscription relating to the number of his offspring, and a coat of arms.[14]
A stone farmhouse with a tile roof, two storeys, three bays, and rear extensions. The central doorway has a moulded surround and a lintel with a shield containing initials and the date. The windows are mullioned.[15]
A stone house with a stone-slate roof, two storeys, three bays, a recessed two-storey, two-bay extension to the left, and a flat-roofed garage on the right. The central doorway has a moulded surround, and above it is a datestone. The windows are mullioned with multiple lights.[16][17]
A house, later offices, in brick on a projecting plinth, that has an eavescornice with triglyphs, and a slate roof. There are three storeys, four bays, and a small wing and outshut at the rear. In the second bay is a doorway with ¾ columns, a radial fanlight and a dentilled open pediment. Another doorway in the first bay has a Gibbs surround. The windows are sashes with stone sills and flat brick arches.[18][19]
The aqueduct carries the Peak Forest Canal over the River Tame. It is in stone with arches in engineering brick, and consists of three elliptical arches, between which are tapering pilasters and cutwaters with semicircular ends. The aqueduct has two stone bands, and the parapet walls are curved and end in square piers.[18][21]
A house, later offices, then a church, it is in brick on a stone plinth, with stone dressings, a band, an eavescornice, and a hippedslate roof. There are two storeys, a central block of five bays, and wings of three and two bays. The central three bays project slightly under a pediment, and contain a central portico with Ionic columns and a dentilledentablature. The windows are sashes with stone sills and cambered brick arches.[22][23]
Two stone houses with a slate roof, two storeys, and a front of three bays. The right two bays form the cottage, which has a door with a square-cut surround, and a dated lintel, three windows with stone sills and lintels, and a bow window. The farmhouse has a doorway with an ogee head in the gable end, four windows with ogee heads, and a 20th-century casement window.[3][24]
Originally a gatehouse built as part of a Millenarian scheme, and later used for other purposes. It is in rendered brick with a pyramidal slate roof. The main part has a square plan, two storeys, and three bays. Above the central doorway is a pediment, and the windows are sashes.[16][27]
The former Methodist church is in brick with a slate roof, sides of seven and four bays, two storeys, and a 20th-century extension to the east. The four-bay entrance front is pedimented and has a stone plinth, and a tetrastyleGreek Doric porch flanked by sash windows, and there are three windows in the tympanum. Along the sides the ground floor windows have flat heads and those in the upper floor have semicircular heads.[28][29]
The bridge carries the towpath of the Ashton Canal over the Peak Forest Canal. It is in stone, and has a single segmental arch. The parapets consist of monolithic slabs over a band.[18][30]
The offices were reconstructed in the 20th century with a steel-framed internal structure. The exterior is in stone on a projecting plinth, with sill bands, an eavescornice, and a blocking course. There are three storeys and fronts of eight and three bays. Two doorways have architraves and console brackets supporting flat hoods, and the other doorway has pilasters. The windows are sashes, one is larger with an elliptical head and a rusticated surround and a dropped keystone. At the top in the centre is a carved lion.[31]
An integrated cotton mill, consisting of two mills, the later dated 1851, with a warehouse and office block between. The mills have an internal structure of cast iron and brick, and have a brick exterior and Welsh slate roofs. The first mill has six storeys, and sides of 28 and six bays, incorporating an engine house. On the inner face is a semi-octagonal stair tower, the warehouse has five storeys, and sides of ten and five bays. The warehouse is linked to the second mill, which has four storeys and sides of ten and five bays, and adjoining it are single-storey weaving sheds.[32][33]
The town hall was extended to the left in 1878. It is in stone, in Neoclassical style, and has two storeys and a basement. The main part has five bays wit giant attached Corinthian columns, a dentilledentablature, and a balustradedparapet. The ground floor is rusticated, and has round-arched openings, and the windows in the upper floor have architraves. The extension is in a similar style, with giant pilasters.[34][35]
The gateway and walls are in stone. The gateway has a large central segmental-arched carriage entrance, flanked by smaller flat-headed pedestrian entries, and contains cast iron gates. The central arch has lettered voussoirs, a band, and a pediment. The walls stretch for 30 metres (98 ft) and are about 5 metres (16 ft) high.[16][36]
A Commissioners' church that was designed by E. H. Shellard in Gothic Revival style, with the transepts, the south chapel and the tower added in 1862. It is in yellow sandstone and has a slate roof with copedgables. The church consists of a nave, north and south aisles, north and south transepts, a chancel with a chapel and an organ chamber, and a northwest steeple, which is almost free-standing. The steeple has a three-stage tower with buttresses and a circular stair turret, and it rises with stepped broaches to become octagonal to accommodate the spire.[41][42]
The church, later converted for residential use, is in stone with a stone-slate roof. It is in Gothic Revival style, and consists of a nave, an apse, and a porch. Some of the windows are mullioned, some are lancets, and on the south side is a rose window.[8][43]
A range of buildings, including a hall and a shop, on a corner site. It is in brick with stone dressings, rusticatedquoins, bands, a bracketed eavescornice, and a hippedslate roof. There are three storeys, three bays on Stamford Street and seven on Booth Street. The Stamford Street front has a central arched doorway with a keystone flanked by modern shop fronts. In the middle floor is a central niche and sash windows with architraves and flat heads and datestones above, and in the top floor the windows have segmental heads. On the Booth Street front are similar windows, and two elaborate doorways both with pilasters, and one with a dentilledentablature, the other with a fanlight and keystone arch.[22][44]
Originally a school, later used for other purposes, it is in polychromatic brick on a projecting plinth, with stone dressings, a band, an eavescornice, and a hippedslate roof, and is in Italianate style. There are two storeys, eleven bays, projecting stair wings at the rear, and a lower four-bay wing to the left. At the front and at the rear the central three bays project and are pedimented. The doorways have columns with foliated capitals, a dropped keystone and a semicircular hood, and the windows are casements. At the rear is a tower with a pyramidal roof.[45][46]
The tower was built to commemorate the marriage of HRH Albert Edward and Princess Alexandra, and replaced an earlier tower on the site. It is in stone, and consists of a circular tower with a conical head. Above the doorway on the west side are inscribed stones. The tower also has lancet windows, corbelledeaves, dormers, and stepped gables.[8][47]
The church is in stone and has a slate roof with copedgables and finials. It is in Decorated style, and consists of a nave, a south porch, a north transept containing a vestry and an organ chamber, a double-gabled south transept, a chancel with a vestry, and twin west spires. The spires are square at the base, rise through broaches to become octagonal, and have a gableted bell stage surmounted by a spire.[16][48]
The market hall was extended in 1881 and 1930. It is in brick with stone dressings, one storey, a rectangular plan, and a front of 19 bays with a central tower. The hall has a projecting plinth, an arcade of semicircular arches with keystones, an impost band, and a modillioneavescornice with a blocking course. The tower has two stages above the parapet, and has a coat of arms, a datestone, polychromatic brick decoration, clock faces in oculi, a cornice and a balustraded parapet. Above the pedimented entrance on the south side are a pair of lions.[49][50]
A terrace of workers' houses in red brick with sandstone dressings, a lintelband, a dentilled sill band, and Welsh slate roofs with copedgables. The houses have two storeys, and the two central houses and the end houses also have attics; each house has two bays. Above the central houses is a pediment, and over the end houses are gablets. The doorways have shouldered jambs, moulded lintels, and fanlights. The windows are sashes, in the ground floor they have flat heads, and in the upper floor the heads are rounded.[51][52]
A brick building in High Victorian Gothic style with stone dressings, bands, a machicolatedeaves band, a parapet, and a slate roof. There are two storeys, a basement and attics, and a main front of six bays. The basement storey is in stone, and on the brickwork is diaper decoration. Above the doorway is a pierced balcony and a gable, the windows have pointed heads, and in the attic are gabled dormers.[18][53]
The former swimming baths are in brick with stone dressings and a slate roof, and in Italian Romanesque style. The building has a large swimming hall with pilasters, a machicolatedfrieze below the eaves, and round-headed windows. At the northeast is a tower with vents towards the top between machicolations, and beyond that is a lower two-storey block. Inside there is a hammerbeam roof.[45][54]
A terrace of red brick workers' houses with sandstone dressings and a Welsh slate roof. They have a linear plan, two storeys with attics, a total of twelve houses, each with three bays. The outer houses project forward and are gabled. The doorways and windows have segmental heads, the doorways have fanlights, and the windows are sashes. The eaves are carried on decorative brackets.[55]
The church, designed by J. Medland and Henry Taylor, is in red brick with decoration in blue brick, and has sandstone dressings and a Welsh slate roof with copedgables. It consists of a nave with a clerestory, a north aisle with a vestry porch at the east end, a south aisle with an organ chamber at the east end, a north transept, and a chancel with an apse. At the west end is a lean-to baptistry and porches, flying buttresses, and a gabled bellcote. At the east end is a circular stair tower, and another flying buttress. Most of the windows are lancets.[56][57]
The wall and railings, designed by J. Medland and Henry Taylor, enclose the area occupied by the church, school and vicarage. The wall is in brick with stone dressings, and the railings and gates are in iron. On the west side it incorporates a drinking fountain with a projecting bowl. At the northwest and southwest corners are angled gateways consisting of arched entrances rising from gate piers and abutment walls. At the top of each gateway is a stepped gable containing an open niche.[39][58]
The vicarage, designed by J. Medland and Henry Taylor, is in red brick with decoration in blue brick, and has sandstone dressings and a Welsh slate roof with crested ridge tiles. It has two storeys, a double-depth plan, and three bays. The doorway has a pointed arch and a hood mould, some windows are mullioned and others are casements. The vicarage has gables with bargeboards, some with finials.[39][59]
A cotton mill, later converted in to flats, it is in brick with concrete floors, and has an irregular plan. The main block has five and six storeys, and sides of 14 and nine bays, and there is a small extension containing the engine house. At the southeast is an octagonal stair turret wrapped around the chimney.[60][61]
The statue commemorates Hugh Mason, a local mill owner and politician. It consists of a life-size bronze figure standing on an inscribed polished granitepedestal.[63]
The former post office is in red brick on a plinth, with sandstone dressings and a slate roof, and is in Renaissance style. It is on a corner site, and has two storeys with an attic, a front of five bays, and a single-storey three-bay extension to the left. The building has rusticatedquoins, a band, a mouldedcornice over the ground floor, three balustraded balconies, one with urn finials, an eavesfrieze, and a prominent moulded cornice on moulded brackets. The doorway has a rusticated surround, and the upper floor windows have round heads, architraves and flutedpilasters with Corinthiancapitals.[45][66]
The library is in stone with a slate roof, and is in Gothic style. It has two and three storeys, and a single-storey seven-bay wing to the left. On the front is a large tower with a pyramidal roof. This contains an entrance flanked by columns, a decorative gable and a pierced parapet. Above it is a three-light window over which is a pierced balcony, and to the right is an octagonal stair turret with a conical roof. The bay to the left contains an oriel window, and at the extreme left is a projecting bay with an oriel window.[49][67]
Originally a theatre, it was refurbished as a cinema in Art Nouveau style in 1933, and is in brick with a hippedslate roof. There are two storeys and a front of three bays. The central bay projects under a pediment, and has a canopy with a central pediment, and four windows in the upper floor. The outer bays have a parapet with ball finials, and in the upper floor are windows with frames dating from the 1930s.[68]
The war memorial stands in Memorial Gardens. It is in Portland stone, and consists of a three-stepped platform, a pedestal with a mouldedplinth, and a tall square shaft. On the two wings of the pedestal are life-size bronze lions, and on top of the shaft is a bronze depiction of a winged Victory ending over a wounded soldier. On the front of the shaft are bronze commemorative fixtures, and on the pedestal are bronze plaques with inscriptions and the names of those lost in both World Wars.[60][69]
At the southwest entrance to the Memorial Gardens are a pair of square gate piers flanked by wrought iron railings in a segmental concave curve, ending is another pair of piers. The piers are in Portland stone and have mouldedcornices and flaming urns. Between the central piers is an elaborate overthrow carrying wording and a coat of arms. The railings are in four panels divided by openwork piers with urns. At the south entrance are a similar pair of piers and an overthrow.[60][70]
A K6 type telephone kiosk, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott. Constructed in cast iron with a square plan and a dome, it has three unperforated crowns in the top panels.[71]