Temple Works

By 1842 John Marshall owned four mills in Holbeck. They were known as Mills B to E, Mill A having been demolished in 1837. The early 1830s had been a time of great prosperity for the firm after the introduction of the wet spinning process in 1829, the transition to which took five years to complete. John Marshall's four sons all entered the business, but increasingly he relied on his son James concerning the manufacturing side. The firm's competitors in Leeds were all prospering and had built or had plans to build sizeable new mills. The firm at that time specialised in making fine yarns, principally for the French market, but this was starting to decline. Therefore, James Marshall decided upon a programme of diversification into thread and cloth manufacture. This decision to diversify required an extension to the manufacturing facility in Holbeck. James had two alternative plans, another six storey mill on the site of the demolished Mill A in Water Lane, or a single storey building extending from Mill C in Marshall Street south to the junction with Sweet Street. He compared the cost of the two mills and calculated the single storey structure would cost £24,000, about 15% cheaper than a comparable six storey building. The new building was modelled at one third the full size in the yard of Mill C. James persuaded his father, then in semi-retirement, that the single storey mill should be built. A Mr Smith had already built the first single-storey cotton mill in Deanston, near Stirling, but Messrs. Marshall planned a much larger and complete specimen. regulator on display in Science Museum, London Temple Works, also known as Temple Mill, comprises an office building and a factory. The office building has a stone facade consisting of 18 full-height windows separated by 18 pillars with an overhanging cornice in the Egyptian style, based on the temple at Antaeopolis and the Temple of Horus at Edfu. The factory building derived from the Typhonium at Dendera. There was a chimney in the style of an obelisk, but after it developed a crack it was demolished and replaced by a brick structure in 1852. Hick's engine was modelled with Egyptian details, including a regulator designed by his son Benjamin in the form of a winged solar disk, and replaced the original Watt engines. Sheep are not able to use stairs so the first hydraulic lift was devised in order to resolve the problem of moving them onto the roof; Hick was a hydraulics engineer, but it is not clear whether he was responsible for the invention, his youngest son, William Hick (1820–1844) supervised the installation of the 'Egyptian' beam engine from Leeds during 1841. ==1842 General Strike==

The mill was caught up in the Plug Riots of August 1842. The Leeds Annals described the events at the mill: "The vicinity of the new mill in Marshall Street was completely crammed with an excited mob, many of whom were armed with bludgeons, stones &c. The yard-door leading to the boilers of the new mill was strongly defended by Mr J. G. Marshall, and a number of workmen; but the mob by repeated efforts forced down the door, and rushed into the yard. They could not find the plug of the boiler, and consequently did not succeed in stopping the mill. They left the premises without having done any serious mischief, and then proceeded to the mill of Messrs. Titley, Tatham and Walker, Water Lane, which they were engaged in stopping when Prince George with the Lancers came up at full speed and formed in a line in Camp Field. The riot act was read, and two or three of the ringleaders were taken prisoners ... ." ==Later use==

In the 1970s the building was used as the Kays Mail Order Warehouse, and some of the workers were photographed by Peter Mitchell outside the building at the end of their night shift. ==Restoration==

A planning application dated July 2005 proposed to partly demolish, refurbish, and extend the mill to form a retail centre, offices, cafes, 75 flats and parking. On 8 December 2008 a stone pillar in the mill's facade collapsed. A slab of millstone grit fell onto the pavement in Marshall Street and the roof parapet above the pillar bowed out. English Heritage advised on a strategy for repairs; their spokesman said that the building was "probably the finest example of a carved stone elevation in the whole region". In November 2015, Burberry announced plans to use the site for manufacturing. However, following the Brexit vote, they put the plans on hold, finally abandoning them in 2017. The building was put up for auction in 2017 with a starting price of £1. The new buyer, CEG, gave an estimate of £35 million for the restoration works in June 2019, with the building forming part of plans for regeneration of the South Bank of Leeds. In March 2020 it was announced that the building was under consideration as a planned Northern branch of the British Library. The government's 2020 budget promised £25 million towards the restoration of Temple Works to enable its use by the British Library. In February 2025 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) confirmed an additional £10 million of funding for Homes England to bring the Temple Works building into public ownership, with a view to establishing the viability of a permanent British Library presence at the site. The government's Culture Recovery Fund, in partnership with Historic England, also made available over £1 million in funding for repair work. ==In popular culture==

Temple Works features in a John Betjeman BBC film, John Betjeman Discovers Leeds, made in 1968 about Leeds city architecture. In late 2009 the building was opened as an arts centre, with an initial exhibition and tour as part of Leeds Light Night on 9 October. The building is referenced in the poem "A Wider View" by Seni Seneviratne, which is part of the Worlds and Lives AQA Anthology for the AQA English Literature GCSE specification. It also featured in the second episode of the third series of Leeds-based TV series DCI Banks. ==See also==