Hope Mill Brimscombe Mill Brimscombe Port Port Mill Bourne Mill (1) Dark Mill Brimscombe Polytechnic Brimscombe House Gussage Mill Lewiston Mill Bourne Mill (2)
GRO Dark Mills 2004 IMG 2396
What: Historic building and mill site
Where: GL5 2TG   The highest mill located on the River Frome within the Stroud Parish
Then:

A cloth mill until 1830, and which has had many different subsequent uses.
 Now:  Modern factory buildings

Dark Mill was first recorded in 1597 when the property comprised a house, two fulling mills and two grist mills. By 1671, a gig mill had been added to the complex, and in 1784, it was recorded that the property consisted of a fulling mill, a shear-grinder's mill and a dye house.

The property remained a cloth mill until 1860, although it was used for a variety of other purposes later in the 19th century: as a gun-felt manufactory in 1870; a dye works in 1876; a saw mill in 1881 and for the manufacture of umbrella sticks in 1885.

In 1903, the site was acquired by Critchley Bros. Ltd. of Wimberley Mills nearby, who used it for the manufacture of wooden knitting needles and crochet hooks, and who continued to occupy the site until the mid 1990s. New factory buildings were constructed on the site in the 1950s and 1960s, and the early 19th century stone mill building was demolished in 1964.

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

Revised 2018 EMW