O
O.C.
Guest
Mrs Miller (Wolvey is just N.E. of Bedworth) note the different styles
From Dugdales History of Warc.
Nice on ya CD cover or ya book
From Dugdales History of Warc.
Nice on ya CD cover or ya book
-
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O
O.C.
Guest
intresting cutting from Brum Journal 1851 Ladywell baths ( reply 244)
O
O.C.
Guest
Aston .....No it was a business card 1830 from Park Mills Nechells ......Spade Mills refered to type of business edge tools etc.
O
O.C.
Guest
The Mill Pool at Park Mill Nechells 1896 then it was Edge tools occupied by Messrs.Wills
O
O.C.
Guest
A Closer Look
The Baron
master brummie
loisand, I know Cromwell posted you a map of Holford Mill, but this one may show why Holford may have been mixed up with Oldford,as you can see the local farm was named Oldford Farm,both are now to far from the mill race which was taken from the river Tame.
Hope i am not repeating information that other have posted?
Best Regards Keith
Hope i am not repeating information that other have posted?
Best Regards Keith
Di.Poppitt
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
That's a great map of the area Aston, and it clears it all up for me. I saw Wellhead close to the mill on the census and couldn't get my mind round it, but of course there were so few buildings around and Perry Barr is just the other the side of Moore Lane. 
Here's 2 more things to with millers that I need a little help with!!
First one.......... Where is Friday Bridge, according to Pigot's Birmingham Directory 1829 a miller by the name of Samuel Badger Junior was located at this address!!
Second one.............Has anyone any information on the Workhouse Flour Mill, 26 Steelhouse Lane, again took from the same Pigot's Directory!!
Thanks in advance :smitten:
:flower: :cat:
First one.......... Where is Friday Bridge, according to Pigot's Birmingham Directory 1829 a miller by the name of Samuel Badger Junior was located at this address!!
Second one.............Has anyone any information on the Workhouse Flour Mill, 26 Steelhouse Lane, again took from the same Pigot's Directory!!
Thanks in advance :smitten:
:flower: :cat:
This mill was a complex site and appears to have been taken over by a munitions company at some time. There is not much remaining but there is something as you can see. From this I believe we can pinpoint buildings and surmise some things. Bear in mind mills changed product a lot and repaired, replaced and upgraded continually. The river as stated has been moved eastward and now runs in a straight man made channel. Not shown on the Google view included. What still remains there, where it was years ago seemingly, is a tailrace from one of the smaller buildings. The run goes nowhere now but remarkably it has defined the location and run of Holford Drive along side of it. At the top end, pin 1, would have been the small building shown on the old ordinance survey, below 5.262. The bush and tree lined feature at pin 2. is the remains of the tailrace and runs alongside the existing soccer field. It would have re-entered the Tame lower down. If you manipulate the map included you will be able to see this. Google pin 3. is the position of the more substantial building just below the mill pond. It also had a wheel and it's tailrace went more directly into the Tame as you can see. Google pin 4. is the position of the sluice for controlling the level of the mill pond. It runs directly into the Tame at that point.
The modern factory above Holford Drive is mostly sitting where the mill pond was. If you look at pin 1. you will see that the entry to the road there is a little cranked and if that angle were continued it would run through the soccer pitch. The lighter coloured road angles away from this. Maybe the crank at the top was influenced by the the rifle range line. The entrance of Holford Drive from the left angles down now whereas the old ordinance angles slightly up. Because of changes to the road route further to the left I believe the road junction is about the same. Hope I got it right. I left the Google view large so that Loisand can copy. I will reduce it later.
Click here for Ordinance.‚.. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapsheet.asp?sheetid=10073&ox=3544&oy=1696&zm=1&czm=1&x=79&y=311
Use the zoom buttons and click on the map to move around.
The modern factory above Holford Drive is mostly sitting where the mill pond was. If you look at pin 1. you will see that the entry to the road there is a little cranked and if that angle were continued it would run through the soccer pitch. The lighter coloured road angles away from this. Maybe the crank at the top was influenced by the the rifle range line. The entrance of Holford Drive from the left angles down now whereas the old ordinance angles slightly up. Because of changes to the road route further to the left I believe the road junction is about the same. Hope I got it right. I left the Google view large so that Loisand can copy. I will reduce it later.
Click here for Ordinance.‚.. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapsheet.asp?sheetid=10073&ox=3544&oy=1696&zm=1&czm=1&x=79&y=311
Use the zoom buttons and click on the map to move around.
Last edited:
Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
Loisand,
Friday Bridge was where the Parade became Summer Row as it crossed over the canal. There was a Thursday or a Monday Bridge as well, but I can't remember now where I've seen them. I'll get back as soon as I find them again.
Peter
Friday Bridge was where the Parade became Summer Row as it crossed over the canal. There was a Thursday or a Monday Bridge as well, but I can't remember now where I've seen them. I'll get back as soon as I find them again.
Peter
Di.Poppitt
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Loisand, in 1851 liviing at 71 lLonel Street in the Christchurch district of Birmingham is Thomas Badger, Miller Corn and Malster Dealer of the firm of J & T Badger emplg 70 men. He is obviously not living at the mill , but it would seem the Badgers went on milling.
W
Wendy
Guest
Hi, Thank you for the link very interesting I have found so many family links to Aston. My father was born in Bevington Road. My mother was a Caldecott linked to the Washington Ervine book about Aston Hall. Randolph Caldecott did the illustrations, apparently a distant cousin.
"Latch and Batchelor" of Hay Mills, was one of the first companies to come under direct goverment control in both World Wars. In 1914-1918 war they were the sole manufacture of shell fuse spring wire, producing over 80,260 miles of it. During the second world war the company received several direct hits. Latch and Bachelor was formed in 1884, originally James Horfall had moved his wire mill to Hay Mill in 1856, his son Henry was approached by T. C. Batchelor, hence Latch and Batchelor, to develop and perfect his inventions for Locked Coil Rope and subsequently Flattened Strand Ropes.
:flower: :cat:
:flower: :cat:
O
O.C.
Guest
Loisand, to give you a bit more info on James Horsfall I will go back a bit.......
In medieval times there was a windmill on Maney Hill and the site of a watermill is commemorated by the name of Mill Street. It seems that spades and other agricultural implements had for long been made in and around Sutton, and consequently a number of mills were built for this and other trades during the eighteenth century. The mill built at Powells Pool, possibly used initially by John Wyatt for spinning cotton, was soon given over to spade making, and the presence of many mature ash trees in the Boldmere and New Oscott districts may be due to the fact that they were cultivated for their hard wood, which was used for making spade-handles. It has also been claimed that the very first all steel garden fork was made here. Although Powell's Mill was always known as "the old Spade Mill", it was, during its later working life, used to roll steel for pen-making. It eventually fell into disuse, and by the early nineteen thirties was in such a bad state of repair that a part of the roof gave way. It was demolished in 1936.
During the seventeenth century some of Sutton's manor pools had been drained and converted into rich meadow land, but a century later, with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, mill-pools became a pressing necessity for manufacturing purposes. Both Blackroot and Longmoor Pools were made in the eighteenth century, the waters of Blackroot being used to operate a leather mill, while Longmoor was the site of a button mill. The name Blackroot derives from a black root or stump of an oak tree, used for tethering boats, which once stood on a mound in the middle of the pool; it was also known as Perkin's Pool, from the name of a man who rented it. There was another mill at Park House, Sutton Park, which was once called Blade Mill and, later, Brown's Mill, from the name of an occupant; at Holland Pool there was, from the middle of the eighteenth century, a mill for grinding gun barrels. Longmoor Pool was made in 1735 by John Riland, John Gibbons and William Rawlins, when an agreement between Gibbons and Rawlins stated that Rawlins should "make a good and substantial dam of turf and gravel for a pool at Longmoor Brook in Sutton Park, to be completed for the sum of seven pounds."
When Miss Bracken wrote her "History of the Forest and Chase of Sutton Coldfield " in 1860, she was able to record that there were still six mills operating in the area without the assistance of steam power: Longmoor; Powell's, Wyndley, Holland, New Hall and Hill Hook. She adds that others formerly existed "of which the most important has only recently been removed." This is probably a reference to Penns Mill which, from about the middle of the eighteenth century, was operated by the Webster family for drawing wire. Walmley, at this time, was an obscure hamlet on the southern edge of the parish of Sutton Coldfield a place where several roads met, with a few houses near their intersection. Despite the sparse population, the Websters were able to recruit sufficient labour to create a flourishing business at Penns, in addition to which they also acquired Plants Mill and forge at Minworth; a wire mill at Perry Barr and another forge at Hints, Sutton Coldfield.
Probably the most pressing industrial problem in the eighteenth century was that of transportation. The Websters' pig iron was brought from the Forest of Dean and had to be handled three times in transit. It was bought at Chepstow and conveyed by barrow, by river and by wagon to its destination. The Birmingham-Fazeley Canal, built by James Brindley in 1783, was a boon, for it actually passed beside the forge at Minworth and, no doubt, did much to alleviate the firm's transport problems. To sustain the output of Penns Mill, a lake, or mill pond, was made to increase the power supply of the stream. This was done over a period of several years with spade and barrow by the mill employees themselves.
In the nineteenth century, Joseph Webster joined forces with James Horsfall, who had achieved success at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 with a high-tensile piano-wire which he had developed. Webster had an established business with world-wide connections, while Horsfall had patents for his inventions and personal qualities to lead him to success. The merger between the two men was a logical and mutually satisfactory outcome of the situation, and Webster & Horsfall, Wire Drawers of Hay Mills, Birmingham has survived to this day. In 1859, production at Penns was discontinued and on 21st November of that year the water-wheel of the mill turned for the last time. Considerable hardship must have been caused by the closure and during 1860 the population of Walmley dropped by 100. Presumably, however, some of those employees thrown out of work at Penns were absorbed at Hay Mills.
In medieval times there was a windmill on Maney Hill and the site of a watermill is commemorated by the name of Mill Street. It seems that spades and other agricultural implements had for long been made in and around Sutton, and consequently a number of mills were built for this and other trades during the eighteenth century. The mill built at Powells Pool, possibly used initially by John Wyatt for spinning cotton, was soon given over to spade making, and the presence of many mature ash trees in the Boldmere and New Oscott districts may be due to the fact that they were cultivated for their hard wood, which was used for making spade-handles. It has also been claimed that the very first all steel garden fork was made here. Although Powell's Mill was always known as "the old Spade Mill", it was, during its later working life, used to roll steel for pen-making. It eventually fell into disuse, and by the early nineteen thirties was in such a bad state of repair that a part of the roof gave way. It was demolished in 1936.
During the seventeenth century some of Sutton's manor pools had been drained and converted into rich meadow land, but a century later, with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, mill-pools became a pressing necessity for manufacturing purposes. Both Blackroot and Longmoor Pools were made in the eighteenth century, the waters of Blackroot being used to operate a leather mill, while Longmoor was the site of a button mill. The name Blackroot derives from a black root or stump of an oak tree, used for tethering boats, which once stood on a mound in the middle of the pool; it was also known as Perkin's Pool, from the name of a man who rented it. There was another mill at Park House, Sutton Park, which was once called Blade Mill and, later, Brown's Mill, from the name of an occupant; at Holland Pool there was, from the middle of the eighteenth century, a mill for grinding gun barrels. Longmoor Pool was made in 1735 by John Riland, John Gibbons and William Rawlins, when an agreement between Gibbons and Rawlins stated that Rawlins should "make a good and substantial dam of turf and gravel for a pool at Longmoor Brook in Sutton Park, to be completed for the sum of seven pounds."
When Miss Bracken wrote her "History of the Forest and Chase of Sutton Coldfield " in 1860, she was able to record that there were still six mills operating in the area without the assistance of steam power: Longmoor; Powell's, Wyndley, Holland, New Hall and Hill Hook. She adds that others formerly existed "of which the most important has only recently been removed." This is probably a reference to Penns Mill which, from about the middle of the eighteenth century, was operated by the Webster family for drawing wire. Walmley, at this time, was an obscure hamlet on the southern edge of the parish of Sutton Coldfield a place where several roads met, with a few houses near their intersection. Despite the sparse population, the Websters were able to recruit sufficient labour to create a flourishing business at Penns, in addition to which they also acquired Plants Mill and forge at Minworth; a wire mill at Perry Barr and another forge at Hints, Sutton Coldfield.
Probably the most pressing industrial problem in the eighteenth century was that of transportation. The Websters' pig iron was brought from the Forest of Dean and had to be handled three times in transit. It was bought at Chepstow and conveyed by barrow, by river and by wagon to its destination. The Birmingham-Fazeley Canal, built by James Brindley in 1783, was a boon, for it actually passed beside the forge at Minworth and, no doubt, did much to alleviate the firm's transport problems. To sustain the output of Penns Mill, a lake, or mill pond, was made to increase the power supply of the stream. This was done over a period of several years with spade and barrow by the mill employees themselves.
In the nineteenth century, Joseph Webster joined forces with James Horsfall, who had achieved success at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 with a high-tensile piano-wire which he had developed. Webster had an established business with world-wide connections, while Horsfall had patents for his inventions and personal qualities to lead him to success. The merger between the two men was a logical and mutually satisfactory outcome of the situation, and Webster & Horsfall, Wire Drawers of Hay Mills, Birmingham has survived to this day. In 1859, production at Penns was discontinued and on 21st November of that year the water-wheel of the mill turned for the last time. Considerable hardship must have been caused by the closure and during 1860 the population of Walmley dropped by 100. Presumably, however, some of those employees thrown out of work at Penns were absorbed at Hay Mills.
O
O.C.
Guest
Sutton Coldfield once had thirteen water-mills, most of which were used for a variety of industrial purposes. The only surviving mill is at Newhall, which for almost three centuries supplied one of the most basic of human needs: flour.
In 1903, Benjamin Styles, the miller at Newhall, wrote a poem:
I am an old Water Mill—in the Royal Town of Sutton,
I do my work well, and don't care a button.
I've stood all my life on this very same spot,
I use the Park Water, and don't waste a lot.
I've a fine Water Wheel, which is termed overshot,
And the stones turn round just like a top.
I have a good friend in the Squire at the Hall,
I supply all the flour as fast as they call.
I grind for the Farmers and others besides,
I give them good weight, and measure likewise.
I ground some Wheat once, that was reaped the same day,
And in less than six hours it was bread on the tray.
There were seventy nice loaves, so good to digest,
And everyone said 'twas a very good test.
The demand for the bread, which was very keen,
That a loaf was sent to our late beloved Queen.
I make a good picture, I wish you to know,
I've hung in the Art Gallery three months for a show.
I'm hundreds of years old. If my days were all numbered,
I've always stood firm when its hail'd, rain'd, and thundered.
I had a severe test when Wyndley Pool burst,
Of all the great floods, this was the worst.
In conclusion I ask you to give me a call,
And leave some good orders for the Mill at New Hall.
In 1903, Benjamin Styles, the miller at Newhall, wrote a poem:
I am an old Water Mill—in the Royal Town of Sutton,
I do my work well, and don't care a button.
I've stood all my life on this very same spot,
I use the Park Water, and don't waste a lot.
I've a fine Water Wheel, which is termed overshot,
And the stones turn round just like a top.
I have a good friend in the Squire at the Hall,
I supply all the flour as fast as they call.
I grind for the Farmers and others besides,
I give them good weight, and measure likewise.
I ground some Wheat once, that was reaped the same day,
And in less than six hours it was bread on the tray.
There were seventy nice loaves, so good to digest,
And everyone said 'twas a very good test.
The demand for the bread, which was very keen,
That a loaf was sent to our late beloved Queen.
I make a good picture, I wish you to know,
I've hung in the Art Gallery three months for a show.
I'm hundreds of years old. If my days were all numbered,
I've always stood firm when its hail'd, rain'd, and thundered.
I had a severe test when Wyndley Pool burst,
Of all the great floods, this was the worst.
In conclusion I ask you to give me a call,
And leave some good orders for the Mill at New Hall.
O
O.C.
Guest
Loisand, it is over 100 years old so I guess you could use it and I don't think the Miller will mind .......I will post you one I wrote a number of years ago if you send me your E-mail Address as I have mislaid the one you sent ...I will even let you have the art work I did with it
Anti Corn Law Rhymes
A couple of Anti Corn Law Rhymes by Ebenezer Elliott, there must be a pun in the name!!!
SQUIRE LEECH
Come, Lord Pauper! pay my bill
For radish-tops and fire:
Ploughman Joe, and weaver Will,
Keep Robert Leech, Esquire.
You say, shares are fairly shared
Between the high and low;
While we starve, this joke runs hard
On Bread-tax'd Will and Joe.
Leech drinks wine, sometimes enough
But them he drinks in style:
Club-feast ale is sinful stuff;
And pewter-plate is vile.
Robert rides, and Robert drives-
His feeders barefoot go;
Will is claiming; bread tax thrives;
And tradmills claiming Joe.
"Give", of old, the horse-leech cried;
Squire Robert cries, "Give, give"!
How the leeches are belied!
They suck, yet cnnot live!
Little souls grow less and less,
And ever downward grow,
"Live and let live", they profess,
And feed on Will and Joe.
Bread Tax murders trade and hope;
Lord Pauper cries, "Well done"!
Bread Tax is not yet a rope
To every rascals son;
Justice is not done, tis' said
To Robert Leech and Co;
Gibbet is not tax on bread-
But Bread Tax gibbets Joe!
A couple of Anti Corn Law Rhymes by Ebenezer Elliott, there must be a pun in the name!!!
SQUIRE LEECH
Come, Lord Pauper! pay my bill
For radish-tops and fire:
Ploughman Joe, and weaver Will,
Keep Robert Leech, Esquire.
You say, shares are fairly shared
Between the high and low;
While we starve, this joke runs hard
On Bread-tax'd Will and Joe.
Leech drinks wine, sometimes enough
But them he drinks in style:
Club-feast ale is sinful stuff;
And pewter-plate is vile.
Robert rides, and Robert drives-
His feeders barefoot go;
Will is claiming; bread tax thrives;
And tradmills claiming Joe.
"Give", of old, the horse-leech cried;
Squire Robert cries, "Give, give"!
How the leeches are belied!
They suck, yet cnnot live!
Little souls grow less and less,
And ever downward grow,
"Live and let live", they profess,
And feed on Will and Joe.
Bread Tax murders trade and hope;
Lord Pauper cries, "Well done"!
Bread Tax is not yet a rope
To every rascals son;
Justice is not done, tis' said
To Robert Leech and Co;
Gibbet is not tax on bread-
But Bread Tax gibbets Joe!
2nd one
CAGED RATS
Ye coop us up, and tax our bread,
And wonder why we pine,
But ye are fat, and round and red,
And fill'd with tax bought wine.
Thus twelve rats starve while three rats thrive,
(Like you on mine and me)
When fifteen rats are caged alive,
With food for nine and three.
Haste! Havoc's torch begins to glow-
The ending is begun;
Make haste! Destruction thinks ye slow;
Make haste to be undone!
Why are ye call'd "My Lord" and "Squire",
While fed by mine and me,
And wringing food, and clothes and fire,
From bread tax'd misery?
Make haste, slow rogues! Prohibit trade,
Prohibit honest gain;
Turn all the good that God hath made
To fear, and hate and pain;
Till beggars all, assassins all,
All cannibals we be,
And death shall have no funeral
From shipless sea to sea.
Not much has changed really!!!!
CAGED RATS
Ye coop us up, and tax our bread,
And wonder why we pine,
But ye are fat, and round and red,
And fill'd with tax bought wine.
Thus twelve rats starve while three rats thrive,
(Like you on mine and me)
When fifteen rats are caged alive,
With food for nine and three.
Haste! Havoc's torch begins to glow-
The ending is begun;
Make haste! Destruction thinks ye slow;
Make haste to be undone!
Why are ye call'd "My Lord" and "Squire",
While fed by mine and me,
And wringing food, and clothes and fire,
From bread tax'd misery?
Make haste, slow rogues! Prohibit trade,
Prohibit honest gain;
Turn all the good that God hath made
To fear, and hate and pain;
Till beggars all, assassins all,
All cannibals we be,
And death shall have no funeral
From shipless sea to sea.
Not much has changed really!!!!