Albion Mill, Factory Hill, Lancaster, Lancashire. Archaeological Building Investigation.

Thomas Armstrong (Construction) Ltd and Impact Housing Association Ltd have received planning consent (Application No 12/01005/FUL) for a proposed redevelopment of a former industrial site on the north-western fringe of Lancaster city centre. The development proposals necessitate the demolition of existing buildings, which include a multi-storey block that represents the vestiges of the former Albion Mill textile-manufacturing complex (centred on NGR 348195 462075).
Albion Mill was established in the 1820s as a cotton and silk spinning mill, and was one of several important textile-manufacturing sites in the town that were built
adjacent to the Lancaster Canal during the first half of the nineteenth century. By the 1870s, output from the mill was focused on the production of coconut matting and, in
the 1930s, it was used for dyeing and weaving. However, the mill had fallen into disuse by the 1960s, and the majority of the buildings were demolished subsequently
to enable residential development.
In order to mitigate the ultimate loss of the surviving building, the Lancashire County Archaeology Service, which provides planning advice to Lancaster City Council,
recommended that an archaeological building investigation of the multi-storey mill block was carried out prior to its demolition. In the light of this advice, Lancaster City
Council attached a condition to planning consent that required an appropriate level of archaeological building investigation to be undertaken.