Building Name

Coventry Cotton Mill & Works, Draper's Fields, Coventry

Date
1861
District/Town
Radford, Coventry
County/Country
Warwickshire, England
Client
Coventry Cotton Company Limited
Work
New Build
Status
Destroyed 1941

COVENTRY COTTON COMPANY - In November your directors entered into negotiation wiih the freemen’s trustees for about 11 acres of land adjoining St. Nicholas-Street and the Drapers’ Fields, and having the Coventry canal on one side, and the London and North Western Railway on the other, which resulted in arrangement for a lease of the same for 99 years at rent of £10 per acre, on condition of the company expending £12,000 in buildings upon the land within ten years. The site is convenient for the working population, and the terms are alike satisfactory to the freemen and your directors. In November, your directors appointed Messrs. Lynes and Browett, as deputation, to visit Lancashire to view mills and machinery, and make general enquiries, and those gentlemen devoted several days to that object. The information they procured has led to the appointment of Mr. George Woodhouse, of Bolton, mill architect, who is now engaged upon preparing plans. [Coventry Standard 26 January 1861 page 4]

To BUILDERS - Tenders for the Erection the Coventry Cotton Mill and Works. Persons desirous of CONTRACTING for the various works required in the erection of Mill, Engine house, Boiler House, Warehouse, Shed, Chimney and other appurtenances, to be built Coventry, for the Coventry Cotton Spinning and Weaving Company Limited, may inspect the Drawings, Specification, Quantities and  Conditions of Contract at the offices of Mr Thomas Browett, Solicitor, Coventry; and also at my Offices, Saint George’s Road, Bolton; now and at any time on of before Monday the 22nd April inst.  Tenders, endorsed “Coventry Cotton Spinning Company Limited,” to be delivered to Mr Browett, on or before Tuesday the 23rd inst at 12 o’clock noon.  GEORGE WOODHOUSE, Architect. Bolton-le-Moors, 9th April, 1861. [Coventry Standard 20 April 1861 page 1]

COVENTRY COTTON COMPANY ANNUAL MEETING – Report to Shareholders - In May the contract for the mill and shed was let by tender to Mr. Joseph Marsden, of Bolton, who immediately entered upon the execution of the works, and has just brought the contract to completion. The buildings have been executed upon the plans and under the superintendence of Mr. George Woodhouse, of Bolton, architect, assisted by Mr. Thomas Lockwood as clerk of the works. They form a handsome and commanding structure, and comprise, it is believed, all possible advantages of plan and arrangement. The contract for the engines, boilers, and mill gearing was granted to Messrs. John Musgrave and Sons, of Bolton, in May, and is drawing to completion, and will be finished in the first week of April. In August the directors contracted with Messrs. Dobson and Barlow for the supply of spinning machinery, to the extent of 40,000 spindles and appliances, and that contract is in course of execution. “The depressed state of trade enabled the directors to effect somewhat better terms in the contracts for machinery than the contractors would have conceded in ordinary times. The directors, however, have not made cheapness the primary object, but the character of the machinery, which they have taken every pains to secure of the highest efficiency. In all probability the mill, shed, and machinery will be completed and ready for occupation at Midsummer, making period of about 13 months from the commencement of the works, and the lease wall date, and rent commence, from the time of completion. [Coventry Standard 31 January 1862 page 3]

The company were the only cotton spinners listed in Coventry in White & Company's Commercial and Trades Directory of Birmingham and in Kelly's Directory of 1896 but production appears to have ceased following the fire of 1891. Following refurbishment and rebuilding (architect: Woodhouse and Morley) the building was standing empty in 1896 just at the time when the syndicate who had bought the rights to produce the Daimler car in this country were looking for a suitable site for production. Coventry was eventually chosen as the home of Britain’s first motor car factory ahead of Birmingham and Cheltenham, the other main locations considered, and the 13 acre site was quickly developed, the original cotton mill building being converted into a machine shop. In 1908 when further expansion was not possible, a site at Radford was acquired for the main works. In 1937 the Coventry works were vacated, being used as an Air Ministry store when in 1940 most of the works including the cotton mill were destroyed by the Luftwaffe.

The Coventry Motor Company or CMC was a Coventry motor vehicle manufacturer established in early 1896. and operated from the former cotton mills of Coventry Spinning and Weaving Company off Sandy Lane, Radford, which then housed The Daimler Motor Company, The Great Horseless Carriage Company (from 1898 The Motor Manufacturing Company) and The New Beeston Cycle Company