A Colne historian has expressed his delight that an Edwardian datestone has been preserved during the demolition of a former thread mill.
Leader Times Columnist Geoff Crambie requested that the piece of history was saved during the development of the Glen Mill site, in North Valley Road.
Councillors approved an application in April for the plot to be transformed into a Lidl, Marston’s Pub and small industrial units. It had previously been derelict for at least five years, having opened as a mill in 1906.
Mr Crambie (71) said: “I spoke to Lance and Keith on the site, and they showed me the datestone. It looks absolutely superb and I am really pleased it has been preserved. It is tremendously heavy, and apparently it took quite a number of staff to get it down.
“To think that Alec Guinness will have seen it when he was filming The Man in the White Suit, and now it is going to be preserved all these years later.”
Responding a Lidl spokesman said: “Planning permission was granted in April for our site in Colne, and at present demolition has commenced along with pre-development enabling works.
“We currently plan to open our Colne store next summer, with the intention of starting construction works early in 2015, once the necessary highway works have been addressed.
“The mill datestone has been retained by the company taking care of the demolition and it is our intention for this to become a feature in the new development perhaps in one of the landscaped areas.”