This is the full story of the Mill at Willsbridge Gloucestershire from 1712 to
1968 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 Willsbridge and on to the River Avon nr Keynsham Somerset.
Willsbridge Mill is situated just off Willsbridge Hill, on the Bath to Bristol old Roman road. It is tucked away in a largespace, Mr John Pearsall built the earliest mills in about 1712 on land owned by the Pearsall family, he also built a large house nearby now named Willsbridge Castle in about 1730.
The Mill was used for rolling and splitting hoop iron and the manufacture of steel. Mr Thomas Pearsall, took out a patent during the early 1800`s for the technique of constructing roofs from hoop iron instead of timber. However when a roof over London Docks constructed in this way collapsed, the technique was discontinued. Pearsall went bankrupt and sold the mill in 1816 when he retired to the city of Bath where he died in 1825.
Willsbridge was then converted into a flour mill by the new owners The Mills family who worked the mill from 1840 until 1931, the three brothers and one sister were all born in Mill Cottage alongside the Brook, when the Mills family took over the mill it was powerd by two water wheels, one on each side of the mill.
There was always plenty of water to keep the machines moving and day and night large quantities of water were pumped from nearby 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 fitted by a local firm Torrance & Sons Ltd., engineers of Bitton. From the day it was fitted it was never idle and worked 24hrs a day, including Sundays.
The reason why there was always an adequate volume of water was due to the fact that when Pearsall originally built his dam for the power needed by the mill he flooded a large area of land which was known at that time as Swan Flats.
To control the flow of the water two slush gates were fitted on a narrow
walkway above the large water wheel. 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 Albert Bull took
over 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 first thing that Mr Bull did was to
replace the old water wheel because by now it was getting beyond repair and
was replaced by a new turbine, which was supplied and fitted by a Belfast firm. At this time the only electricity used was for lighting purposes, so that the cost of purchasing outside power must have been minimal.
When Mr Bull died in 1960 the milling continued by his employees the Townsend
Family. My Grandfather Walter Townsend had worked at the Mill from 1920 until
1969, he worked for the Mills family and the Bull Family he was later joined
by his son Sid Townsend soon after the war.
After Albert Bull died my uncle
Sid ran the mill single handed. Until the great storm of 1968 the worst in
living memory, It rained non stop for two days and nights, the mill pond
became so flooded that the old dam beside the mill could not contain the
pressure, uncle Sid tried in vain tothe slush gates but they were firmly
stuck.
And during the early hours the dam burst, allowing teeming millions of
gallons of flood water to devastate the lower lying valley of Willsbridge. Five inches of rain-a month's average for a wet July-fell in little more than a day. Bedminster was flooded, Cheddar Gorge was transformed into a raging torrent and Keynsham and Pensford were torn apart by avalanches of floodwater. Three people died when their car was washed away at Keynsham. The final death toll was eight and the cost of repairs to damaged buildings, ruined homes and broken bridges ran into many millions.
In the village of Willsbridge, the scene was heartbreaking. Cars were washed
down stream, the Queens Head public house was under five feet of murky water.
The mill began to fall into disrepair after this catastrophe, It was later
purchased by George Wimpey and Co Ltd. A well known building and engineering
firm who donated the mill and surrounding land to Kingswood District Council
On the 5th November 1979.
But this was not the end of The Willsbridge Milling
Company, local farmers the Rennolds Brothers purchased the mill machinery and
the company name and moved it lock stock and barrel to the family farm at Hicks Gate Brislington Bristol. My uncle Sidney Townsend carried on working the mill for the Rennolds until his death in the 1980s. The mill at Willsbride is now in the care of Avon Wildlife Trust which is a charitable organisation aimed at promoting nature conservation.
