History
Image Credits: ‘Ebley Cloth Mills, Stroud c.1850, attributed to Alfred Newland Smith. STGCM 2194 © Museum In The Park, Stroud’
Textile
Heritage
The roots of our textile heritage lie under the ground.
The limestone hilltops provide a perfect pasture for sheep and an ideal building material; the clay layers beneath create the springs – fresh water for the cottages and a plentiful supply for the fast running streams that can turn water wheels.
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Background to the Local Wool Industry
by Professor Jennifer Tann
Much of the Gloucestershire landscape would appear very different were it not for the wool trade and the woollen industry.
The ‘wool’ churches of Northleach, Winchcombe, Cirencester might be
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History of Dunkirk Mill
Timeline
1601. The earliest reference is in the deeds, but to what is not explained.
25th November 1741.
Earliest Reference: An advertisement for cloth stolen from the racks of the New Mills near ‘Dunkirck’, 17 yards of Raw Cloth, with a blue Stop List.
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History of
Gigg Mill
Gigg Mill is built on the Horsley brook at a spot where the stream plunges down in to the Nailsworth Valley.
In the early 1900s power was still provided by a 17 foot diameter water wheel.
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History of Longfords Mill
by Ian Mackintosh
The local textile industry dates back to the Middle Ages and evidence for a mill at Longfords survives in the Minchinhampton Custumal of 1304.
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The Cross
Cutter
Invented by John Lewis of Brimscombe Mills in 1815/18, this model has no date or maker’s name. The cutter quickly replaced shearmen and Lewis claimed by 1829 that he had already sold thousands of them.
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St Mary’s
Mill
One of the most picturesque mills in the Stroud Valleys is St Mary’s in Chalford. Built like a diminutive Ebley Mill, it retains an imposing but static water wheel.
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Archive Images, Film and Sound
The Trust holds a broad collection of images, film and sound archives telling the story of the local textile industry, its people and its places.
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Woodlands
Mill
Previously Peghouse Mill.
Bought in 1902 by David Humphreys from Northcoat, Cartwright & Co and extended between 1902 to 1920 by Messrs Poulton and Son, Slad Road.
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‘Ebley Cloth Mills, Stroud c.1850, attributed to Alfred Newland Smith. STGCM 2194 © Museum In The Park, Stroud’
Ebley Mill
Bodley’s Spectacular Mill, built 1859.
The young architect G F Bodley was building Selsley Church for Marling when the disastrous fire destroyed part of Ebley Mill.
As the visitor approaches, the eyes move naturally to the echoing silhouette of Bodley’s spire at Selsley Church.
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‘Man with Prize Sheep c.1800, unknown artist. STGCM 1967.119/1 © Museum in the Park, Stroud’
Glossary
An A to Z of Glossary Terms for our readers and members.
Starting with Fulling.
Fulling was sometimes called ‘walking’ – and, in Yorkshire, ‘tucking’. A fulling mill was a simple mechanism: a tappet wheel, turned by the water wheel, which raised two large and heavy hammers …
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The History of Ebley Mill
by Ian Mackintosh
In the 1800s, the Stroud Valley mills were subjected to radical changes that transformed some and led to the closure of many.
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