THE KEIGHLEY town centre site of Yorkshire’s earliest surviving cotton mill is on sale for £250,000.

Low Mill, on Gresley Road, near the Aldi supermarket, is being offered for use as a residential or commercial development.

The sale plan emerged after Historic England revealed it was in discussions with the building’s new owner about potential re-use and development.

Historic England this month decided to retain the dilapidated late 18th-century mill on its At Risk Register due to its “very bad” condition.

The organisation said Low Mill was in “immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric” with “no solution agreed”.

Huddersfield estate agents Hunters, who are handling the sale offer, this week declined to identify the owner or give details of discussions with Historic England.

But Hunters’ website revealed that the order was willing to sell the mill building and its adjacent car park separately, for £175,000 and £125,000 respectively.

The company said that English Heritage had previously provided a grant towards the conversion of the mill because it was a listed building.

Hunters added: “Planning permission was granted for two new blocks of apartments one containing 20 units and the other containing 30 units and 6 units to be built within the mill but over time has expired.

“Enquiries with the local authority indicate planning permission would be granted for either a residential or commercial development.”

Low Mill is believed to be Yorkshire’s first-ever cotton mill, and was originally built by Halifax man Thomas Ramsden.

Thomas had married the daughter of Keighley attorney and mill owner Rowland Watson, and following Watson’s death in 1776 he began to build Low Mill.

The structure was completed by the Clayton brothers and Thomas Walshman in 1780, the year in which cotton spinning began.

Ramsden resumed business as a cardmaker in Halifax, and died in 1787.