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Mills Of Birmingham

  • Thread starter Thread starter O.C.
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Olton Mill with the Miller

Olton Olton Mill.JPG

(Photo replaced with what is thought to be original one)
 
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Hi Loisand:

All the info on the Mills of Birmingham is so interesting. Are you writing a book?
 
I wonder where this one was Loisand.

In 1738, Lewis Paul (one of the community of Huguenot weavers that had been driven out of France in a wave of religious persecution) settled in Birmingham and with John Wyatt, of that town, they patented the Roller Spinning machine and the flyer-and-bobbin system, for drawing Wool to a more even thickness. Using two sets of rollers that travelled at different speeds yarn could be twisted and spun quickly and efficiently. This was later used in the first Cotton spinning Mill during the Industrial Revolution.

1742: Paul and Wyatt opened a mill in Birmingham which used their new rolling machine powered by the humble Donkey, this was not profitable and soon closed.
 
The discussion on this subject is fascinating, but it grows so fast and I forget to follow it up.
The amazing thing about mills to me is that, before the steam engine, which was not used all that much before the 19th century, it was only water and wind power which could be harnessed to make Birmingham at that time the leading manufacturing centre in the world. In other words, Brum owes its growth to its mills.
We are slowly building up a record, but there is still a lot of misleading material about which has to be avoided.
Here's hoping our collective wisdom will help build up a reliable picture of the where, when and why the mills were in use.
Peter
 
Di, will download that info and have a look, I know there were some mills driven by donkeys and horses and even humans, the ones driven by humans were mainly in the gaols, but if my memory serves me right that type of mill was not in Warwickshire (the human type), Peter all the info is coming together very well, but still along way of to completion. I certainly agree with you as far as some info that you read in your research is sometimes misleading and does send you way of track, at the moment I am listing all mills and windmills in alphabetical order, which I find alot easier to work with, at the moment there are 153 mills in the Warwickshire area that are being researched, everyday there are new ones added when they come to light. Thankyou each eand everyone of you for your help. :smitten:
:flower: :cat:
 
From the Britanica Encyclopedia:
John Wyatt, born April 1700, Staffordshire died Nov 29 1766 Birmingham Warwickshire, English mechanic who contributed to the development of power spinning. Wyatt began his career as a carpenter in the village of Thickbroom, near Lichfield, but by 1730, with financial support from the Birmingham inventor Lewis Paul, he was working on machines for boring metal and making files. The spinning machine, first patened in 1738, was almost certainly Paul's idea, with Wyatt providing the technical skill. The principle was to draw the fibres through sets of rollers turning at different speeds. It was successful for a time but was superseded by Richard Arkwright's water frame in the 1770's. Wyatt later worked at Matthew Boulton's Soho Foundary.
:flower: :cat:
 
My be this should be under the Sutton Park Topic but it is about a Mill. So here it is.
Water Power was the reason for the creation of Longmore Pool by a Mr John Gibbons, John Riland ( Rector of Sutton) and William Rawlins in th18th century.The  mill (shown in my post date unknown) powered by the pool made buttons at first and was later used as a flour mill. The dam at Longmore Pool burst in July1923 and the resulting flood caused much damage in the town of Sutton Coldfield.
 
Blackroot Mill :Mill pools in Sutton  Park were made due to the waters of the parks streams being found to be unequalled for hardening & tempering steel.Many mill pools were made in the18th century by damming the streams & harnessing the flow of the waster for making such things as wire, spades, button. blades, gun-barrels & steel pens, as well as  dressing leather & grinding corn.
BLACKROOT POOL MILL IS SHOWN  BELOW AS IT WAS IN 1901
 
This is another angle on the Longmore Mill,its taken looking from Banners Gate direction.
The information I have with this Photo : statesTHE Millas being erected in 1754 as a CORN MILL.Becoming a button mill in 1762. Demolished 1938.
IT JUST SHOWS THAT YOU CANNOT TRUST THE WRITTEN WORD.Same Mill  built with two differing uses stated for its conception.
ASTON
 
Thanks Aston, do you mind if I download the piccies, continuation Di, of John Wyatt, took from Wikipedia:
John Wyatt was related to Sarah Ford, Doctor Johnson's mother. In 1773 he worked in the mill at New Forge (Powells) Pool, Sutton Coldfield attempting to spin the first cotton ever spun by mechanical means. His principal partner, Lewis Paul, who was sponsored by the Duke of Shrewsbury, together developed the concept of elogating cotton threads by running them through rollers and then stretching them through a faster second set of rollers. They produced the first ever roller spinning machine but it was not successful. Paul took out patents in 1738 and 1758, the year before he died. Wyatt went to work for Matthew Boulton in his foundary in Birmingham. There he invented and produced a weighing machine and experimented with donkey power to run his spinning machine. He was brought down by his debts and was made bankrupt. Their ideas laid the foundations for others who followed, particularly Sir Richard Arkwright. He was credited with the spinning frame, later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power. The world's first water powered cotton mill was built in 1771 in Derbyshire.(note this was taken from wikipedia)
:flower: :cat:
 
I know, I know( i think)
An overshot mill is fed from above and an undershoot is fed from below.
I remember doing something on it at school. :-\
 
Dead right Postie The flow of the water feeds an undershot mill and a mill situated by a waterfall or fed into a pond so that the water goes ontop of the wheel to drive it round
 
Interesting info on John Wyatt and Lewis Paul, Loisand. The almost got there before Arkwright with his spinning machine didn't they, a bit more cash and maybe they would have.
 
loisand, I never new this Mill existed,walked along past this place more time than I can remember.
only found it today when looking through the old Photos of Sutton Coldfield.
Trust you do not have this one.?
 
loisand, the legand I missed off :Wyndley pool with the Water Mill on the right. a mill existed at Wyndley pool from the seventeenth centuty onwards. Originaly used as ablade mill,it was converted to a saw mill in 1840. The Mill was demolished in 1962-63.
sorry about the slip up.
ASTON
 
Hi Aston sorry TO Disappoint, but yes I have, but the piccie will be great, just about to download it. You have got the bug haven't you. A big thankyou :smitten:
:flower: :cat:
 
Can t stop loisand, its like a drug, looking through old book visiting  book shops to see what I can find that you or Cromwell have not got & that may be of interest to the other members of this fantastic family. :cheers:
 
Loisand As ya know I got a lot of old Newspapers with some great pics in which I am slowly getting round to recording them all, came across these today which are quite remarkable
the first on shows Prince Albert visit to a Sword Grinding works in Brum in 1843
the second shows Gun barrels being ground (note the size of the Grindstone)
3rd Pic shows a Steel Rolling Mill
 
Cromwell, found those gun making pictures so interesting as a lot of my Yates ancestors worked in the gun trade, would a pistol filer be the same as a gun grinder?
 
No Sylvia, I'll check to see if I have a pic as I have got a few 100 more papers to go through and it time consuming. Pistol Filing was done by hand with a file with the pistol barrel in a vice
 
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