Plans to redevelop the site fell through during the recession, but as the housing market recovers, is a sensitive housing scheme now viable?
Grade II*-listed, 1861-71, architect unknown
Tonedale Mill is thought to be the largest and most comprehensive textile manufacturing site in the south west, with a range of surviving structures unparalleled in England. It was built for the Fox family, who, during the Boer War, developed an innovative new khaki dye for the British Army, and effectively ended the traditional association between British soldiers and cochineal coats. To this day, a sizeable part of the site remains in use for the production of dress uniforms, but the reduced scale of the industry means that others have been abandoned and allowed to deteriorate to a near derelict state. Plans to redevelop these areas as housing fell through during the recession, but as the housing market recovers, it is hoped that a conservation-led redevelopment scheme will now be viable.
Status Update / March 2026
In 2023, Somerset Council was awarded a £2 million grant from the central government ‘Levelling Up’ fund to redevelop Tonedale Mill and the neighbouring Tone Works. The mill is owned privately, but was served notice by the council to carry out the most urgent repairs and start planning for a handover that year. Unfortunately, little has changed in the years since and as of 2025 the money remains ringfenced and unspent. Councillors have asked the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government for an extension to the funding deadline, up to March 2027, whilst the project is reassessed.