Slingfield Mill

 

Slingfield Mill was built in 1864 for Thomas Lea’s weaving business. It was the largest building in Kidderminster at the time .It was perhaps a clear signal that the town and the carpet manufacturing business which was at the heart of its economy had overcome the challenge that the advent of steam powered looms had presented a decade or so earlier. It was a spinning mill providing yarn for the carpet industry, designed by Lockwood and Mason. The unusual square chimney served the adjacent boiler house and Lea was said to have climbed it to survey the town when it was first completed. Lea (later Sir Thomas) was MP for Kidderminster 1868-1874 and later MP for Donegal and then Londonderry.

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The building eventually formed part of the huge Brintons operation that occupied much of of the town centre between the river and the canal. It was then incorporated into the retail development that took over the site. It id a Grade II listed building.

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The Piano Building

 

Named for its resemblance from above to a grand piano these premises were built in 1867 as a wool warehouse for the Brinton company then in the process of a period of growth that made it the leading business in the town. It was listed in 2003.

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The Morton Works

 

These are another series of industrial buildings for the carpet industry by J G Bland. The first phase was built in 1869-70 and it was extended later in the nineteenth century and then agaiun in the twentieth. The history of the ownership and occupation of the site illustrates a process of consolidation that was ongoing in the trade in Kidderminster from the latter decades of the nineteenth century. Morton and Sons for whom the premises were built amalgamated with Richard Smith and Company in the 1890s to form the Carpet Manufacturing Company. The site, listed in 1999 is now occupied by a variety of businesses.

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