Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings

On Friday 17th September  HM Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, Anna Turner, attended a celebratory dinner and opportunity to support the final stage of restoration works to the main mill and kiln.

Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings is the first iron framed building in the world and is proudly known as the “grandfather of all skyscrapers”, despite being only 5 storeys tall. 

Currently, it is owned by Historic England and is in the final stage of a multi-million-pound restoration. 

The Flax Mill’s architect was Shrewsbury wine merchant and surveyor Charles Bage. He designed the fireproof mill using an iron frame, in correspondence with William Strutt of Derbyshire. In November 2015, the Friends opened the doors to their new state-of-the-art Visitor Centre for the first time. Housed in the renovated Office and Stables thanks to grants from Historic England and the ERDF the facility brings together for the first time interpretations of the mill’s role in the industrial revolution and the pioneers who made it happen, including:

•    details on how flax was processed, from the field to the end product, which includes a myriad of items from ship sails to playing cards.
•    the impact of the building’s revolutionary iron frame on the world of architecture
•    details of the mills machinery and technology
•    working conditions at the mill, including child labour
•    the change of use from flax mill to Maltings 
•    details of the malting process
•    the other long gone flax mill in Castlefields
•    the role of the old canal and the importance of Shropshire pioneers in the industrial revolution.