What: | Historic Mill Site | |
Where: | GL5 2SY Hope Mill Lane off A419, opposite Brewery Lane | |
Then: |
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Now: | Industrial Units and a private house |
In 1540, Thomas Sewell, clothier, leased the mill here from John Whittington of Pauntley Court. It consisted of a house, fulling mills and a dyeing house. By 1705, the mill had passed by marriage from the Sewells to Joseph Gough, clothier. It became known as Gough Mills. It then consisted of three fulling mills and a gig mill.
A new mill building was built in 1812 and given the name Hope Mill. In 1829, both Gough and Hope Mills were sold to Robert Bamford, a woollen yarn manufacturer, who shortly afterwards demolished Gough Mill. Between 1863 and about 1910, part of Hope Mill was used for silk weaving. In 1884, a private boat building yard was established in the remainder and in the Central Ironworks on the other side of the Thames & Severn Canal, by Edward Clark & Co. This business was taken over by Abdela & Mitchell Ltd. in 1901. The abandonment of the canal in 1933, made boat-building difficult, but the yard survived in production until 1937. The sites on both sides of the canal remained in use for industrial purposes in 1973, and part of the old stone mill survived, although its upper storeys had then recently been removed.
From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local History Society
Revised 2018 EMW