Mills and
Industry
 Nailsworth has some superb walking routes and the tracks formed by
the weavers trudging to and from the mills are still used today,
ramblers often seek out interesting hamlets which connect our mills
along the routes. These were the result of a time when the
community expanded greatly during the seventeenth century when the
woollen industry was established, utilising the local plentiful
supply of water and fullers earth. Around twelve mills were
developed all concerned with the different processes of
manufacturing woollen cloth. Some of the fine larger houses were
the mill owners houses built near the mills, in order to oversee
their smooth day to day running. Good examples of these can be seen
at Dunkirk Mill, Egypt Mill, Millbottom, Locks Mill and Longford’s
Mill.
Clustered above the mills were the weaver’s cottages clinging
to the hillsides. The clothier would buy in the raw wool, either
directly from the farmers, markets, or from a wool warehouse.
Nailsworth had its own wool warehouse employing about thirty women
wool sorters in Chestnut Hill, where wool was bought from the London
markets for selling on to the local mills. Larger mills like
Dunkirk and Longford’s had their own wool warehouses. The fleece
was sorted, washed and dried at the mill. Then the weavers would
take it to their cottages where the family would card it, spin it
and weave it. The cloth was then returned to the mill to be washed,
dyed, fulled and finished. Lengths of cloth, usually scarlet dyed,
could be seen stretched out to dry on tenter racks on the slopes
near the mills.
 There were two woollen mills in the town centre: Days Mill and
Nailsworth Mill. Days Mill still stands between Old
Market and Fountain Street. Originally it was an imposing ten-bayed
building with a central pediment, but in 1893 two of the bays were
made into a shop. More shops were then built either side and
eventually a new street called Fountain Street was formed, so called
after the Fountain which stood at the end of the street. The mill
itself is best viewed from Old Market where the stream still runs
under the building, and the water controls for the water wheel and
emptying the millponds can be found. The two millponds covered some
two and a half acres where the bus station now stands. The ponds
were regularly emptied and cleaned out and sometimes fish were
scooped up off the mud with a net, providing a fresh dinner for the
millowner! The red brick building adjoining the mill was the old
engine shed, and Nailsworth Motors now occupies the old loom
workshop. From 1903 until 1942 these buildings were used as a silk
mill. The Davis family has been successfully running its furniture
business in Days Mill since 1890, renting out the surplus space to
Cotswold Costumes Hire Shop, Barry Hathaway Printers, and others.
Nailsworth Mill stood in George Street
and only fragments of the original woollen mill remain. In 1879 the
mill was bought by the Chamberlain family who created the new
industry of manufacturing fibreboard from waste paper. In the
1960’s 150 tons of wastepaper was being processed weekly, 35
different qualities of fibreboard were made for various uses in the
shoe and car industries and 350 workers were employed. Set into one
of the walls was the trade mark of Chamberlains, an Aries Ram; a
plaque of this is preserved and can be seen by the entrance gate.
The Chamberlain family still owns the complex called Nailsworth
Mills Estate, which was mostly re-developed from 1986 to form a
supermarket, greengrocers, chemist and butchers shops, a large
number of small industrial units and the Waterside Garden Centre.
In
the Avening valley stands Holcombe Mill which had a gig mill,
dye house and three stocks for fulling cloth. In 1879 the mill was
adapted for flock, shoddy and hearthrug production, becoming the
Purified Flock and Bedding Company in the 1900’s. Since the 1970’s
the site has expanded and a number of small industries thrive here.
Standing in the centre of the mill buildings is a magnificent
hexagonal shaped stone chimney with its original ‘mushroom top’.
These chimneys are rarely found intact now; therefore it is a listed
building. Further up the valley is Iron Mill, originally an
iron works, then a fulling mill from the 1670’s until it was bought
by William Playne and Company in 1839.
Just beyond stands Longford’s Mill which was recorded as a
corn mill in 1300. It is believed to have become a fulling mill as
well sometime in the 1500’s. The Playne family established its
cloth business here in 1759 and in 1806 built the dam to retain 15
acres of water to run the machinery in the weaving and spinning
workshops. In the early 1900’s steam power was obtained for the
mill and the chimney still dominates the group of attractive listed
mill buildings remaining. Playnes produced a variety of West of
England cloth for uniforms, woollens, worsted coatings, tweeds and
flannels. In the 1950’s cloth for tennis balls and billiard tables
was being made here which ceased in 1990, and the mill lay empty
until 2000 when the site, along with Iron Mills, was acquired for
residential use.
Following the Horsley Stream from the town centre, we encounter
Locks Mill in Brewery Lane, which up until 1820 was a
brewery, after which it made cloth, walking sticks, flock and shoddy
until 1882 when it was again a corn mill. In 1894 it lost its top
floor to a fire. From 1936 until 1997 Johnson’s Engineering Works
occupied the site, and its mill pond was used as the town’s swimming
pool. Swimming galas and water polo matches were held and people
recall that it was not unusual to share the pool with eels and
fish! In 1998 the mill became residential. The attractive mill
owner’s house nearby dates from the 17th Century.
Nearby
stood The Nailsworth Brewery and malt houses founded c1820
extending over about two acres and run by the Clissold family until
c1910. Clissold Court is a residential block built on part of the
brewery site. The malt houses in Tetbury Lane are still in use as
workshops and for storage.
The
next mill is Gig Mill which was concerned with raising the
knap on the lengths of cloth by using teasels. It then proceeded to
be a flock mill, fell mongers (producing parchments from animal
skins) then furniture makers. In 1938 it was acquired and turned
into small workshops.
Further up is Millbottom Mill which
was recorded from 1560 as a corn mill. Later it was dye house and
fulling mill, brewery, timber merchants, leather stiffener works,
inks and aniline dye works. In 1967 the mill became residential
until 1985 when refurbishment began to create craft workshops and an
educational centre known as Ruskin Mill.
 The waterwheel was
re-built and can be seen at the end of the mill, there is also a
coffee shop here, with views over the mill pond. Horsley Mill is
run in conjunction with Ruskin Mill and still breeds fish, as it had
done since 1908.
The
Miry Brook runs down the Newmarket valley and the highest mill on it
was Nodes Mill of which only the overgrown millpond remains.
Nearby Hilliers Bacon Curing Factory was established
in 1819. Here pigs were slaughtered and processed into bacon, hams,
sausages and pies.
Further down is Lot Mill which was famous
for H. J. H. Kings Engineering. They designed and made a variety of
equipment for the brewing and coal mining industries, also for water
mills, steam engines and farm implements. This mill is now known as
Terretts Mill and occupied by Cotswold Meringues and The
Bottle Green Drinks Company.
Lower down is Prices Mill,
previously a paper mill, corn mill, brass foundery, builders and
undertakers until 1996 when it was refurbished as the doctors’
surgery and health centre now called Prices Mill Surgery. The
undertakers business continues nearby.
Going north from the town centre is
 Egypt Mill, part of which
is a fourteenth century mill. It was concerned with milling,
fulling, dyeing and producing animal feedstuffs until 1986 when it
was refurbished as a restaurant, bar and hotel. Two waterwheels
can be viewed inside at either end of the building; also a grand
mill owners house of 1896 stands nearby.
Below this is Dunkirk
Mill, an impressive stone built former woollen mill, now
residential. Three of its water wheels remain, the largest of which
can be seen working in the Museum on open days. Next to this is
Dyehouse Mill best known for Newman and Hender Engineering from
1897. McEvoy’s oilfield equipment took over the site, and now
Renishaw occupies most of it. So apart from working in the mills,
the three other large employers in the town were Hillier’s Bacon
Curing Company, the Nailsworth Brewery, and Chamberlains Fibreboard
Works.
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