Ripples spread across the surface of the lake before the former Bliss Tweed Mill at Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK, blurring the lines of its round clock tower, capped by a distinctive, lead-sheathed dome and a lofty smokestack. The mill closed in 1980 but is now split into luxury apartments.
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK: ripples spread out across this soft focus view of the clock tower and lead-sheathed dome of the former Bliss Tweed Mill, reflected in a small lake now in landscaped gardens enjoyed by its current residents, the owners of luxury apartments created after it closed in 1980. The graceful ribbed dome supports a soaring, Tuscan-style chimney that once drew smoke from the furnace boiling water for the mill’s steam-driven spinning machines. The smokestack rises to a height of 503 m (165 ft) and is a well-known landmark in the rolling Cotswolds countryside. The clock tower bears the date ‘ 1872’, the year in which the spinning mill was built for Victorian textiles manufacturer William Bliss. The 5-storey building was designed by Lancashire architect George Woodhouse in the style of an English stately home: faced with Cotswold limestone and embellished by square corner towers topped by urns. The wool, once spun in the brick-vaulted interior, was woven in a lower, multi-gabled building nearby. Bliss Mill produced tweed cloth from both Cotswold and Shetland wool. Good quality tweed was in strong demand in Britain’s late-Victorian and Edwardian eras, and at one time, the mill employed 700 spinners, weavers and other staff. The business thrived during the 1914-18 First World War due to big orders for khaki cloth for British Army uniforms. Bliss Mill today is a well-preserved reminder of the Cotswold woollen industry and of Britain’s wider industrial heritage.
Size: 3600px × 2400px
Location: Bliss Tweed Mill, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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