 |
|
In 1470 Wallbridge Mill belonged to Thomas Bigge. In 1608, it 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.
In 1761, when it 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. His descendants sold the mill in 1820 to the Smith brothers, who were dyers, and they held it until 1870.
It was then purchased by the Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway Company, which partially demolished it to make way for the railway viaduct they built across the River Frome.
After the railway had been built, the rest of the mill was eventually sold back to Howard & Powell, cloth manufacturers, who continued to make cloth here until the late 1950s. The mill buildings were demolished in 1964, although sections of what may have been the dye-house still remain to the east of the railway viaduct.
Wallbridge House was the mill owner's house. It was rebuilt in about 1800, as a three-storey, ashlar-fronted house of five bays, with a Tuscanpedimented porch and fanlight. It is still standing today.
More information: GSIA - Wallbridge Mill
From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local History Society
Revised 2018 EMW
