Wallbridge Mill, Stroud
of Stroud
1470 Wallbridge Mill was in existence; it belonged to Thomas Bigge.
1608 the mill was apparently occupied by a clothier called William Trotman, who had six employees, giving an impression of the small scale of cloth-making firms at this date.
1761 The mill was bought by Samuel Watts, clothier; Wallbridge Mill consisted of three fulling mills, a gig mill, a dyeing furnace, a brewing furnace and a dwelling house.
1820 Watts's descendants sold the mill to the Smith brothers, who were dyers.
At some point the Howard brothers were making cloth there.
1852 Partnership dissolved. '...the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undersigned, John Howard and George Howard, as Woollen Manufacturers, at Wallbridge Mills, Stroud, Gloucestershire, is this day dissolved by mutual consent; and all debts due to or from the said firm will be received or paid by the said John Howard, who will continue the business at Wallbridge Mills aforesaid...'[1]
1886 Howard and Powell
1880 Purchased by the Midland Railway for their Dudbridge branch; the mill was partially demolished to make way for the railway viaduct across the River Frome.[2]
After the railway had been built, the rest of the mill was sold to Howard and Powell, cloth manufacturers, who continued to make cloth there until the late 1950s.
1964 The mill buildings were demolished, although sections of what may have been the dye-house still remain to the east of the railway viaduct.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [2] Digital Stroud