An iconic history

The main purpose of the flaxmill was to spin linen thread from flax. The business thrived since its opening in 1797, and the site expanded with the flaxmill eventually becoming Shrewsbury’s largest employer.

For almost 200 years, the bell was a familiar sound to the residents of Shrewsbury. It would ring out to mark the start and finish of each working day at the flaxmill and, later, the maltings.

However, during the 1980s or 1990s the bell was lost when the building was left derelict following the closure of the business in 1987.

Now's the time to return the bell

The bell, believed to be about 24 inches tall, was originally operated by a pull rope, later changing to an electric chiming mechanism after the Second World War. It is easily identifiable, with '1797' distinctively cast upon it.

Matt Thompson, Interim Curatorial Director of English Heritage, said: 'We believe the bell went missing in the late 1980s or early 1990s, when Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings was left derelict. Whilst it is possible that the bell could have been melted down, it is more likely that someone took it as a souvenir of this imposing, historic building which – at the time – looked close to ruin. Maybe it’s sitting in someone’s garden or in a shed now?

'As Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings begins its new incarnation as an English Heritage site, it feels like the right time to appeal for information on the bell’s whereabouts so that we can restore it to its rightful place.'

'When it opened in 1797, the flaxmill needed 800 workers and a third of these were children. Shrewsbury itself was too small to provide that number, so children were brought in from as far afield as London and Hull under the parish apprenticeship system. Mostly from the workhouses and often orphans, these children were allocated to work at the mill, given housing, food and clothes but not paid wages.

'The bell would have called these children in from the Apprentice House nearby.

'Days were long and conditions often brutal, with testimony from some former child labourers at the mill eventually contributing to the 1833 Factory Act, which restricted the hours that children could work each day.'

Matt Thompson continued: 'As with much of England’s industrial heritage, Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings is a hugely underappreciated historic site. As the world’s first multi-storey, iron-frame building, its pioneering design paved the way for modern high-rise buildings and it has rightly been dubbed ‘the grandparent of skyscrapers’. Without Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, today’s cities would look very different and, for that reason alone, the building deserves international recognition.

'However, the social change brought about by this very flaxmill and the factory system in general is equally as important to British history. The associated urban migration, long, hard working hours and exploitation of children were catalysts for labour reform movements and legislation to improve conditions, including the 1833 Factory Act for which the government received testimony from former workers at Shrewsbury Flaxmill.

'The lost bell is a symbol of this huge societal shift: it oversaw the increased reliance on machinery, the dwindling fortunes of the flax industry, the change in purpose of the building to a maltings and, after a brief silence whilst the building housed soldiers during the Second World War, it was given an electric chiming mechanism to ring out over the handful of workers at the maltings.

'It would be a fitting end to the incredible story of Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings if we could find the bell and restore it to its rightful place, providing today’s visitors with an audible connection to the site’s history and past generations of workers.'