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"An
old scanned photograph of the mill in the late victorian
era, showing the Mills family stood in front of Willsbridge
Mill in 1899. The mill was then run by water-power.
I have many childhood memories of Willsbridge Mill,
helping my grandfather on school holidays. The mill
back then, was a very noisy and dangerous place with
unguarded machinery. Willsbridge Milling Company specialized
in high quality pigeon feed for racing pigeons, and
all manner of animal feed."
Paul Townsend
www.bristolpast.co.uk
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This is the story of Willsbridge Mill 1712 –2004 parish
of Bitton Gloucestershire by Paul Townsend.
These mills were erected on the site
of the ancient Manor House of Oldland on a stream called
the Mill-Clack Brook. It is a continuation of the Siston
brook and runs through the valley of Southern Wood
also known as 'catscliffe'.
In 1800 to 1850, there was a stone quarry at Catscliffe,
farther up the valley of Southernwood, and this was
owned by a family named Caines. There are to this day
flagstones which came out of this quarry, still to
be found in some old houses in Longwell Green.
Pearsall family
On the other side of the road, opposite the mill and
mill pond, is Willsbridge House commonly referred to
as ‘The Castle’ by reason of the mock battlements which
were added during 1848 by the then owner of the property
Captain Stratton. The house had been built, by an ancestor
of R.L.Pearsall, Robert Pearsall was celebrated for
his musical ability. He was born at Clifton, but the
family and his ancestors lived at Willsbridge for many
years prior to his birth.
The madrigal writer, who had come to Willsbridge in
the early eighteenth century. He lived for many years
in an old thatched house by the brook (there is no
trace of it now) and towards the end of his life had
Willsbridge House built. Originally, it was quite small,
being little more than a house extension to a cottage
already standing there. The house was further enlarged
and completed by his son, whilst his grandson, around
1802, added a coach house and stables.
It is thought that the son of the first John Pearsall
constructed ‘The Limes’ an old house near the Mill,
possibly once Oldland Manor or certainly built on the
site of the manor, opposite Willsbridge House, and
most of the cottages built in that area, but not those
adjoining the Queen‘s Head, were constructed by the
son of the first John Pearsall.
Here as early as 1712 Mr John Pearsall set up mills
for rolling iron, especially for hoop iron. Also for
making steel. The works were carried on by the family
for many years and on the 30 December 1811, Mr Thomas
Pearsall took out a patent for his invention of applying
hoop iron instead of timber for the construction of
roofs. However it proved a failure as one roof set
up over London Docks collapsed and after this the work
was discontinued.
One of the last places in our locality to have a hoop
iron roof was Rose Cottage, near All Saints Church
at Longwell Green.
Mr Pearsall retired to Bath where he died in 1825,
the premises in the meanwhile having been sold, and
in 1816 converted into a flour mill.
Mills family
The Mills family worked the flour mill from around
1840 and the three brothers and one ~sister were all
born in Mill Cottage near the works alongside the-brook.
Flours were milled at these premises until 1931 when
Edward Mills retired.
When the Mills family took over the mill it was powered
by two water wheels, one on each side of the mill.
There was always plenty of water to keep the machine
moving and day and night large quantities of water
were pumped from California pit and went into Mill-clack
brook. To this day the waters still flow the same from
the disused Kingswood coal field via the levels, an
ingenious method of underground drainage.
The two large wheels were subsequently
replaced by a much more powerful single wheel made
and fixed by Torrance & Sons Ltd., engineers
of Bitton. It was never idle and worked 24 hours
a day, including Sundays.
The reason why there was always an adequate volume
of water was due to the fact that when Mr Pearsall
originally built his dam for the power needed by the
mill he flooded a meadow and an orchard which was until
that time known as Swan flats.
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| the
sunlight
garden - Mike Dimery |
Bull family
The Bull family lived in a large house on top of Willsbridge
Hill named Albert Villa this is now the modern day
veterinary surgery.
After the Mills family finished the premises had several
owners, who during their various short stays, never
really carried on as the previous owners· It was not
until it was taken over by Alfred Bull in 1942 that
it became once more successful under the name of the
Willsbridge Milling Company Limited. This time it was
not used as a flour mill but for milling animal feeds.
The old water wheel was still used until after the
Second World War but by now it was getting beyond repair
and was replaced by a turbine, which was supplied and
fitted by a Belfast firm. At this time the only electricity
used was for lighting purposes, so that cost of purchasing
outside power must have been minimal.
The mill is tucked away out of sight and is unknown
to many new residents of the area. As the mill worked
quietly it was almost unnoticeable by sight or sound
in this rural setting, and although its machinery was
old, it was well suited for running by water power.
A great deal of work was undertaken cutting wheat,
polishing peas for pigeon food etc.
Originally the grinding was done on the old stones
driven by a water wheel, but these stones were taken
out when the new turbine was fitted.
Townsend family
After Mr Bull died in 1960 the milling was subsequently
carried on by the Townsend family, who had been his
employees.
In 1928 Walter Townsend had been employed by the Mills
family - he remained at the mill when the Bull family
took over - for many years Walter would cycle from
his home in Frogmore Street in the centre of Bristol
to the mill at Willsbridge - and back again the same
day - a round trip of twelve miles.
Later in 1947 Sidney Townsend Walter's son (my uncle)
also worked at the mill - In later years when his father
retired Sidney ran the mill single handed for the Bull
family.
After the disaster of the flood the mill machinery
was taken out and Willsbridge Milling Company was sold
off to a local farming family the Rennalds Brothers
who ran a large farm at Hicks Gate Brislington.
The Great FLood of July 1968
During the great storm of 10/11 July 1968 which was
probably the worst in living memory, had been lashing
the West Country for most of Wednesday increased in
intensity during the evening and deposited an incredible
6 ins of rain on Bristol in 24 hours.
The mill pond at Willsbridge became so flooded that
the old dam beside the mill could not contain the pressure
of water and during the early hours the dam burst.,
allowing teeming millions of gallons of water to devastate
the lower lying areas of Willsbridge below the mill.
The village of Willsbridge was hit by a tidal wave
of water from the mill so great was the pressure that
it swept away everything in its path.
People were trapped in their homes - cars were swept
down stream some never too be seen again.
Willsbridge Mill suffered a tremendous battering as
the, by now unrecognisable, Warmley Brook roared through
it. Several tons of animal feed disappeared when the
store and outbuildings were wahed away.
A massive tree trunk was swept into the dam walls
which were unable to withstand the force of the impact
and gave way.
The resulting ‘tidal wave’ which descended into the
valley below demolished the walls on both sides of
the main road near the Queen’s Head and washed cars
out of the car-park. The public house, adjacent cottages
and houses and bungalows at The Tanyard opposite were
all flooded to a depth of several feet.
The publican’s wife, of the
local public house "The
Queens Head" Mrs Gwen Tucker said that they had
to stop serving drinks at about 8.00pm as water was
pouring down the hill and entering the bar. The main
flood following the mill dam bursting, happened in
the early hours when they heard a series of loud bangs
and the force of the water burst open their doors.
As the water receded during Thursday morning, it revealed
the main road littered with cars, blocked by a tree
trunk and covered in a thick layer of mud and rubble.
That night, seven people lost their lives, hundreds
more suffered a terrifying ordeal of hardship and loss,
bridges that had stood for centuries were washed away
or severely damaged and countless houses, shops, factories
and other properties were engulfed.
As night gave away to day and the full extent of the
disaster was revealed it became obvious that for a
great many people life would not return to normal for
a number of days yet to come...for the mill it never
did.
After the disaster of the flood the mill machinery
was taken out and Willsbridge Milling Company was sold
off to a local farming family the Rennalds Brothers
who ran a large farm at Hicks Gate Brislington.
And the mill buildings at Willsbridge fell into disrepair.
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| the
Mill today |
Avon Wildlife Trust
The Mill was later bought,
together with the adjoining land by George Wimpey & Co
Ltd., the civil engineers and builders.
In 1979 George Wimpey donated the mill and its pond
to the Kingswood District Council who have now entered
into an agreement with the Avon Wild Life Trust for
the restoration of the premises.
Altogether there are twenty acres of steep-sided river
valley of the Siston Brook with wood, scrub and meadow
vegetation on its slopes and the Trust intends to malie
the mill and the valley into the County’s first Wild
Life and Countryside Centre.
The historic mill and adjoining barn are to be used
as a public visitors centre and school field study
centre where there will be displays of the local and
natural history, slide and film shows, a library, laboratories
and a trust shop.
The ‘topping outs ceremony was held on 5th May 1982
when repairs to the roof and the structure of the building
were completed.
Tribute to Nellie
A Wheelchair- friendly path at the
Willsbridge Valley nature reserve has been opened in
the memory of a local woman.
Nellie Broome was born at Willsbridge Mill in 1906
and died last year leaving a generous legacy to the
Wildlife Trust.
The path has been created as a tribute to Nellie who
had fond memories of walking through the meadow and
valley every day to the local village school in Oldland
Common.
Find out more about the Willsbridge
Mll nature reserve here
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