AN 18th-century piece of history is for sale.
Derelict Milnsbridge House, built in 1756, has appeared on the market for £400,000.
Estate agents Gallery@HD1 are offering the Grade II listed Georgian building – also known as Armitage House – to developers.
Permission has already been granted to turn the former grand house at Dowker Street into 16 flats.
And Kirklees Council will grant any developers £140,000 to restore it to its former glory.
Milnsbridge House was built on the site of an earlier building.
A sketch from 1829 shows the stately home surrounded by trees and with an ornamental lake.
Prestigious inhabitants included Sir Joseph Radcliffe, a magistrate who helped restore law and order after the 1811-12 Luddite riots, which culminated in the murder of Marsden mill owner William Horsfall.
The house was bought by industrialist Sir Joseph Armitage in 1823 and remained the property of the Armitage family until 1919. Sir Joseph founded the first mills in Milnsbridge, including Burdett Mill, which remains today.
The landscape dramatically changed during the Industrial Revolution.
By 1901 the house had split into five homes and the garden had been swallowed up by built-up streets.
Since then, Milnsbridge House has been used as a mill with the downstairs area filled with machinery.
In 1967 the former stately home was used as a warehouse for WH Robinson and offices for Brook Wools.
