Photograph of Wardle and Davenports’ Big Mill in Mill Street Leek, 1966

SRO C/P/65/7/1/32/10
©Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service

Big Mill was a silk mill on a very large scale, built in 1857 to a design by William Sugden. The mill was six storeys high, 21 bays long and five bays deep. Other silk mills in Leek were to follow this general design.

This photograph forms part of a major survey of archaeological and historic buildings carried out by Staffordshire County Council in 1966. They provide a key resource of information for both urban and rural buildings, many of which have now been demolished.