Short answers, pulled from the story.
James Coombe, a former pupil of John Rennie, designed Temple Works alongside painter David Roberts and architect Joseph Bonomi the Younger. The structure rose between 1836 and 1840 for industrialist John Marshall in Holbeck, Leeds.
The opening of the factory occurred in June 1840 with a Temperance Tea for 2,600 workers. Six months later machinery installation finished and production began.
An unusual feature involved sheep grazing on the grass-covered roof because their presence retained humidity needed to keep linen thread from drying out. Since sheep cannot climb stairs, engineers devised the first hydraulic lift to move them upward.
The mill became caught up in Plug Riots during August 1842 when an excited mob armed with bludgeons and stones crammed the vicinity of the new mill. They forced down the yard door leading to boilers but could not find the plug to stop production before two or three ringleaders were taken prisoner by Prince George with the Lancers.
February 2025 saw confirmation of an additional ten million pounds funding Homes England to bring the building into public ownership. Over one million pounds from Culture Recovery Fund supported repair work alongside Historic England.