Phoenix Steam Mill and Engine House (EHER 34560)

A mid 19th century steam mill and engine house. It is a 5-storey white brick steam mill and engine house with windows and lintels of cast iron, sited close to Colchester-Ipswich railways opened 1846.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. A mid 19th century steam mill and engine house. Phoenix Steam Mill and Engine House. Now disused, gutted and used as tent store. Grade II listed. <1> <2> One of the earliest mills in the county purpose-built for steam power. It is close to the Ipswich-Colchester railway line (opened 1846) and was apparently built in around 1850. It is an elegant white brick building with at least two original tie-plates. The lucam was removed in around 1945 when it became dangerous. According to local reports the mill ceased grinding in about 1910, although trade directories do not mention a mill in Ardleigh for many years earlier. It became a store and during the last war housed military and home guard equipment. Latterly it was used as a warehouse for Abbotts Nursery. Phoenix steam mill was built close to and immediately north of the Colchester to Ipswich railway line and along Station Road. It formed part of a small collection of industries, including the railway nursery and a maltings, concentrated around the level crossing and served by railway sidings branching either side of the former Eastern Union Railway. The sidings no longer exist although some of the 19th century railway structures still appear on current OS extracts and as such the industrial character of this area is still just recognisable through the few buildings that remain. Since it was listed in 1987, the roadside elevations of the steam mill appear to have remained relatively unaltered, to the point that the list description continues as a broadly accurate precise of its current condition. It was disused in 1987, the mill has since been brought back into use as offices and significantly enlarged to the rear. The modern accretions comprise a tall four storey weather-boarded double pile range to the rear of the southern and central bays which incorporate the engine house and a set back canted red brick four storey unit to the north. The symmetry of the façade and returns remain despite the enlargements to the rear. The five bay 4½ storey mill with gable ends to the north and south was built with diminishing floor heights and originally a lucam central to the façade (removed around 1945). The lucam was positioned above a first floor loading door and pivoting sack slide raised and lowered on chains. The original boarded loading door and door to the main entrance below are intact. The decorative treatment of the windows varies across the facade with elaborate cast iron lintels on consul brackets at ground floor and plainer lintels set over the windows of the floors above. The more elaborate treatment is also extended to the two roadside doors. The windows still retain their original 19th century cast-iron frames, although these frames are merely cosmetic as they are unglazed and sit in front of modern double glazed units. In appearance the former windows now resemble security windows. The gault brick elevations are relatively plain with simple decorative bands at the eaves, above the first floor and as a pediment to the gables. The walls are laid in an irregular ¼ lap Flemish bond. The southern gable wall, particularly across the upper floors, has suffered (historically) from movement, checked by wrought iron straps added around the SE angle and axial tie bars at third and fourth floor level. Despite these attempts cracking persists across the intervening walls between window sills and window heads. Internally the main structural components, floors and some cast-iron columns supporting the binding joists remain. A much altered two storey red brick stable/granary building is present within the rear courtyard while a contemporary Grade II listed gault brick square plan mill house with a hipped grey slate roof (EHER 34559) lies immediately to the north. Present Use: Business (office) Condition: Fair <3>