of Freshford, near Bath.
This mill, on the River Frome, had its industrial origins as a fulling mill in the 16thC. It gradually expanded to undertake various other activities in the production of woollen cloth. In the early 19thC it was let to Thomas Joyce, who was also running Dunkirk Mill, Freshford.
1829 Mill advertised for sale on behalf of Stoddart and Turner, with detailed listing of equipment, which included '2 forty-inch Scribblers, nearly new, by Westfield); forty-inch Scribbler, Armstrong); thirty-six inch Scribblers, (by Westfield and Price); 2 thirty-inch Carder, nearly new, (by Westfield); thirty-inch Carders, (by Armstrong and Price); 2 twenty-eight inch ditto, (by Westfield) ; excellent new Tucker, (by Packer); 4 fifty spindle Billies nearly new ; 20 eighty-spindle Jennies, in good condition ; forty-skein Reels; 10 broad spring Looms, nearly new, (by Harding); 50 Slays, and 10 sets of Loom Harness; 54 Shear Frames, nearly new (by Roberts); 2 good Cutters, (by Coles) ; capital Brushing Mill (by Coles), with copper boiler and steaming apparatus; pair of Shears, broad Dressing Gigs, and one other ditto with double cylinder and connecting gear work ; 2 copper Boilers and Grates, for boiling cloth ; Cloth Washer, large quantity of (Jig Handles, 2 large copper Dye Furnaces with Grates, (one nearly new) ; copper Scouring Furnace and Grate, Panniers, quantity of Wool Scraves, Washing Stage with iron cog-wheels to the same, also a copper Washing Basket; 2 Timmynogs with rollers, one on a new principle; 2 exceedingly good Cloth Presses, one which is cast iron, (by Harford); 4 iron stove Cloth Racks, and 1 iron stove Door and Frame, also iron field Cloth Racks, 45 yards long, ....'[1]
Rogers[2] provides information about the mill's various operators and about the machinery. Its final use as a woollen mill was by C. Freeman as a flock mill until the Second World War. In 1945 it was bought by the Peradin Rubber Co, later Peradin Bonded Polymers. Some of the old buildings survived, complete with stone mullion windows.
The factory closed in 1995, and became derelict and vandalised. Houses have now been built on the site. More information here.