{"id":499615,"date":"2026-03-28T06:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T06:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/499615\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T06:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T06:39:12","slug":"historic-grade-ii-listed-big-mill-fully-alight-as-locals-told-to-stay-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/499615\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Grade-II listed Big Mill ‘fully alight’ as locals told to stay away"},"content":{"rendered":"

A massive blaze has lit up an iconic Grade-II listed building.<\/p>\n

The fire has engulfed the Big Mill, on Mill Street in Leek, Staffordshire.<\/p>\n

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service are on the scene to battle the fire.<\/p>\n

A fire service spokesman said: “We have six crews and an aerial ladder platform at the scene of a large fire at The Big Mill, Mill Street, Leek.”<\/p>\n

The emergency services are also warning people to stay away.<\/p>\n

Staffordshire Police have said for those who have been forced to evacuate from their property should head to the Co-op on West Street, Leek, for support.<\/p>\n

Locals are warned not to drive near the blaze as “this is making things more difficult”.<\/p>\n

The fire service added to keep windows and doors closed if you are driving in the area.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Locals have been told to stay away from the surrounding area | <\/p>\n

FACEBOOK\/THIS IS LEEK STAFFORDSHIRE<\/p>\n

A Staffordshire Fire Service spokesman previously said: “We have multiple crews in attendance at an incident at the Big Mill, Mill Street, where we are responding to a building fully alight.”<\/p>\n

A council report last year revealed that the property was unoccupied, but planned to redevelop.<\/p>\n

The building had received planning permission to be redeveloped into 34 flats.<\/p>\n

The Big Mill, constructed in 1857 and designed by William Sugden served as the centre of the silk industry.<\/p>\n

LATEST WEST MIDLANDS NEWS:<\/p>\n

It served as the base for Wardle and Davenport, which employed up to 2,500 people in the area.<\/p>\n

The building was first listed by Historic England in 1972.<\/p>\n

It is described by the organisation as a “important example of large-scale building for the silk industry”.<\/p>\n

“It is also a good example of the mill-style developed by William Sugden, the leading mill architect at work in Leek at this time,” Historic England, the public body responsible for preserving historic buildings, added.<\/p>\n

\"Silk<\/p>\n

Leek served as a centre for Britain’s silk industry, with both the Wellington Mill and Big Mill listed on Historic England<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The A523 Macclesfield Road, which connects to Mill Street, has been “blocked in both directions due to a building fire from Church Street to Churnet Way”.<\/p>\n

Locals have expressed sadness on social media in reaction to the dramatic scenes.<\/p>\n

One local businessowner said: “Very sad to see, can’t believe it would even set alight, it must be so damp.”<\/p>\n

And another Leek local said: “That’s going to come down tonight.”<\/p>\n

A woman from Brown Edge, a village around five miles from Leek, shared photo of the fire illuminating the sky.<\/p>\n

GB News has contacted Staffordshire Police and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A massive blaze has lit up an iconic Grade-II listed building. The fire has engulfed the Big Mill,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35884,49,50,51,47,52,48,3921],"class_list":{"0":"post-499615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-across-the-uk","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories","15":"tag-west-midlands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}