H P Barton and Caleb Wright built the first mill on the west side of Union Street on a field known as Barnfield in 1851.
[2] In 1894 after Wright's death, the company was acquired by the Fine Spinners and Doublers Association and subsequently by Courtaulds.
It was six storeys high with a water tower topped with a copper dome at its south west corner.
[8][6] The mill had a dust flue in the form of an Italianate tower incorporated in the rope race.
[9] The mill had an ornamental single-storey office block fronting onto Shuttle Street.