Upper Ganicox Lower Gannicox Dirleton House Far Hill Hill Paul Wallbridge House/Wallbridge Mill Lodgemore Mill Stroud Brewery/Stroud & Swindon Building Society Canal Company Agent's House Fromehall Mills Gas Works
GRO Hill Paul 2003 IMG 0832
What: Historic building
Where: GL5 3BT   Near the railway station at Cheapside
Then: Built in 1898 for Williamson Tratt & Co, for a clothing business.
Now: The building has now been restored and converted into luxury apartments

Williamson Tratt & Co. had established a wholesale clothing business in Stroud in 1879. The building seems to have been built to a design provided by Henry A. Cheers of Teddington (Middlesex) as early as 1886.

In 1902, Williamson Tratt & Co went into liquidation, and another firm of clothing manufacturers, Hill Paul & Co., took over the factory. The business continued successfully for many years, and in 1971, still employed 110 people.

This building has been at the centre of a conservation battle.

Production finished in 1989 and the building was purchased by a developer, whose intention was to build flats. The building became unsafe and demolition looked likely. In response, the Hill Paul Regeneration group was formed, and Stroud people barricaded the building to stop demolishers moving in. Once again Stroudies were successful in winning a change of heart.

 

 

More information: SLHS website - Hill Paul

From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local History Society

Revised 2018 EMW