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Bliss Tweed Mill is a former mill for the manufacture of
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire: Bliss Tweed Mill
BBC, World War One at Home, 6 November 2014
The strike at Bliss Mill
Banbury Guardian, 20 January 2014
Our heritage
William Bliss & Sons Limited Industrial buildings completed in 1872 Grade II* listed buildings in Oxfordshire Chipping Norton 1872 establishments in England {{Oxfordshire-struct-stub
Bliss Tweed Mill is a former mill for the manufacture of tweed
Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...
. It is located on the edge of Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 201 ...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
, United Kingdom. It became a Grade II*
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
in 1980 as a distinctive work of British industrial architecture
British industrial architecture has been created, mainly from 1700 onwards, to house industries of many kinds in Britain, home of the Industrial Revolution in this period. Both the new industrial technologies and industrial architecture soon spre ...
.
The mill was built in 1872 for cloth manufacturer William Bliss, to make fine tweed cloth from locally produced wool. It was designed by the architect George Woodhouse of Bolton, who also designed mills in Lancashire, including Victoria Mill in Miles Platting
Miles Platting is an inner city part of Manchester, England, northeast of Manchester city centre along the
Rochdale Canal and A62 road, bounded by Monsall to the north, Collyhurst to the west, Newton Heath to the east, and Bradford, Holt T ...
; Woodhouse was also involved in the construction of Bolton Town Hall
Bolton Town Hall in Victoria Square, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, was built between 1866 and 1873 for the County Borough of Bolton to designs by William Hill of Leeds and George Woodhouse of Bolton. The town hall was extended in the ...
.
The main 5-storey spinning building is faced with local limestone and styled to resemble a country house, with square towers at each corner topped by stone urns. Unusually, a large chimney for the furnace to power the mill's steam machinery issues from a dome at the top of a circular tower built into one façade. The chimneystack is styled as a tall Tuscan column. Inside, the building is supported by cast iron columns that carry beams bearing brick vaults. An adjacent lower building was used for weaving the tweed cloth.
The millworkers went on strike
Strike may refer to:
People
*Strike (surname)
* Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
* Airstrike, ...
for eight months from December 1913 to June 1914, over the right of workers to join a trades union, but the mill prospered in the First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
after receiving a large order for khaki
The color khaki (, ) is a light shade of tan (color), tan with a slight yellowish tinge.
Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms and equipment, particularly in arid or desert regions, where it provides camouflage rela ...
cloth for the British Army.
The mill closed in 1980 and was converted into residential apartments in around 1988.
References
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire: Bliss Tweed Mill
BBC, World War One at Home, 6 November 2014
The strike at Bliss Mill
Banbury Guardian, 20 January 2014
Our heritage
William Bliss & Sons Limited Industrial buildings completed in 1872 Grade II* listed buildings in Oxfordshire Chipping Norton 1872 establishments in England {{Oxfordshire-struct-stub