Marvel at these mills dotted around the county Nostalgia
BROWN’S Mill, seen here in a painting by Edward Smith and glimpsed again in a Victorian photograph, appears to be set in the heart of rural tranquillity.
In fact it stood on the banks of the River Twyver in Gloucester at about the spot where Salisbury Road joins India Road today.
When the photograph was taken around 1880 Barton was a separate community with green fields between itself and the city. The mill, as we see, was a splendid ramshackle collection of buildings and add-ons, set beneath high gables and shingle tiles.
The Ordinance Survey map of 1800 names all the mills along the River Twyver.
Starting from Upton St Leonards, where Upper Mill was located, the river can be traced eastwards to Upton Mill, Owen’s Mill, Green’s Mill, Barnwood Mill, Meadow’s Mill, Fisher’s Mill, Wood’s Mill and finally, before reaching the city Buchanan’s Mill.
It seems that Buchanan’s Mill and Brown’s Mill were one and the same, so plainly the name changed at some time between 1800 and 1870
One of Gloucester’s most photographed and delightful backwaters is Miller’s Green, which takes it name from a water powered corn grinding mill that served the abbey and stood on a tributary of the Twyver.
Healing’s Mill in Tewkesbury is, of course, now derelict and sorry looking. But until only a few years ago it was one of the largest inland flour mills in the country.
There’s been a mill on the River Avon, at or about where Healing’s is today, since the 13th century, though what we see today was built by Samuel Healing in 1865. Then it was steam powered and remained so until converted to electricity in the early 1950s.
A railway line once linked Healing’s to Tewkesbury railway station. Houses along the south side of Quay Street were razed to make way for the iron road, which continued across the High Street to Station Road.
In 1936 a Bread for Energy advertising campaign was staged to convince the nation that eating bread was a good idea, just in case anyone ever disputed the fact.
To show its solidarity with the cause, S Healing & Sons Ltd took its fleet of 50 tonner Leyland lorries on a tour of the county. These diesel denizens replaced the mill’s steam powered vehicles that had previously been a familiar sight around the environs of Tewkesbury.
The Doomsday Book tells us that 11th century Cheltenham and its immediate surroundings had five mills and prospering agriculture.
Barratt’s Mill, which stands just off High Street near the entrance to Sandford Park, was probably one of these sites.
Old paintings of the town appear to show a river running down the High Street, crossed by means of stepping stones, or a wooden bridge that stood at about the spot where the Famous gents’ outfitters used to stand. In fact a river didn’t follow this course.
But from the mid 16th century the owner of Cambray Mill was required by local law to direct water from his mill pond to flood into the street for the purposes of cleaning.
In a similar early attempt to improve public hygiene, it was forbidden to wash clothes within 12ft of the water pump that was used by residents in the lower part of the town, as it was to dump animal skins and carcasses into the river Chelt.