Mill Green & The Bleach Mill

Early Years

Bleaching was the process of cleaning and removing stains from cloth. In ancient times it involved simply washing the cloth and laying it out in the sun to dry. By the seventeenth century it had developed into soaking the cloth in an alkaline bath of lye (produced by soaking wood ash in water) or in weak acid produced from sour milk.  A patchwork of mills emerged across Europe, where weavers could bring their produce for bleaching. The mills were usually situated in areas where there was a supply of timber and water.  Little Eaton had an abundant supply of both.

In 1329 there was a corn mill on the site at Mill Green. It was known as “The Lords Mill” because, like the rest of Little Eaton, it belonged to the Deans of Lincoln who had been gifted the village by King Henry I.  By 1638, John Willymot is recorded as tenant of The Lords Mill, and, in 1645, he passed it on, together with a cottage and some land, to his son Edward.

During the 18th century, the mill passed into the hands of the Hawkins family, prominent Little Eaton farmers who also occupied “The Dean’s Farme” (now Park Farm) and land by the Derwent. In 1791, Jonathan Hawkin’s widow, Judith, left the “Mill Close and the mill standing thereon” to her grandson Thomas Tempest. She also left Peckwash Mill to her daughter, Dorothy (widow of Michael Tempest and mother of Thomas). Thomas Tempest converted Peckwash Mill into a paper mill and leased The Bleach Mill to Elisha Smith.

The Smith family

In 1841, Elisha Smith (age 75) and his wife Marey (70), plus a servant, are recorded as living in the Mill House. Their son John (age 50) with his wife Mary (30) with their three children and two servants were nearby, possibly in one of the cottages on what is now Barley Close. Their other son, William (aged 45), his wife Amy (40) and their six children were also living nearby.  There were seven bleachers living in Little Eaton; Sam Burkinshaw, Samuel Gregory, James Standall, James Brown, Joseph Turner, Sam Goodwin and Joseph Witchel.

By 1851, Elisha had died and the business was run by Marey.   She employed 13 men and 2 women in the works so it clearly remained prosperous. The map below is taken from the Tithe Map of 1850 (the original is in the County Records Office in Matlock)

The map shows the Mill (next to the figure 73) with Bottle Brook to the south and west. Another channel came from a sluice to the north of Jack O’Darley bridge, along what is now Barley Close – the mechanism for the sluice is still visible. Water then passed through the middle of the mill and out through another channel to re-join the brook. Produce from the Mill would be transported via the Tramway to the Canal and into Derby.

The map below is taken from the Ordnance Survey map of 1880. It shows that the railway had been built and the Tramway on the other side of the brook still existed. The Mill House and the Mill itself are shown as one building. Also on the site was a terrace of cottages with a double fronted house at the end.

Throughout the next twenty years the business remained prosperous. In 1871, Marey Smith still lived at the Bleach House with two servants. There were 9 other bleachers living in the village, Stephen Whittaker (66), Samuel Birkenshaw (53) and his son Alfred (14), William Askew ((68), Samuel Goodwin (44), Joseph Goodwin (53) and brothers Joseph Boam (60) and Thomas Boam (58) with Thomas’s son George (16).

The Smiths are buried in St Paul’s churchyard.

By 1891, the business was run by James Stevenson and his wife Elizabeth. Their sons Frank (age 19) and Stanley (age 14) are recorded as bleachers. One of the cottages was occupied by John Wheldon, his wife Harriet and their 10 children. One of the boys is listed as an apprentice bleacher.  Another cottage was occupied by Joseph and Samuel Goodwin.  Joseph (age 74) is listed as a retired bleacher and Samuel (age 64) is listed as a bleacher.  There were no other bleachers in the village. By then, the process of bleaching had become based on chemical agents such as calcium hypochlorite (“bleaching powder”), patented by the Scottish chemist Charles Tennant.  That process was much quicker and no longer needed the special facilities provided by separate mills.

By 1900, the Bleach Mill in little Eaton was closed. The 1901 census records no bleachers living in the village.  The four heads of families living in Mill Green cottages worked as a cowman, a furnace worker, a foundry labourer and an engine stoker. 

Recent Times

The Tempests mortgaged the double fronted cottage on the end of the terrace, to George Hill in 1875.  The Hill family lived there for the rest of the century but the ownership was sold to various people including the Benjamin Currey of Eaton Hill and Anna Frith, owner of the Anchor Inn.  The Hills were followed as occupiers by the Eyres (in 1901), the Websters (in 1908) and the Browns (in 1920). In 1952 Ernest Thompson became the owner occupier. The cottage was sold to the Mees in 1975, the Polkeys in 1981 and Chris Lavelle in 1992. 

The other cottages were listed in 1939 as occupied by Sarah Payne;  John Harrison, a paper making tester, his wife Cissie and their three children; William Green, a permanent way ganger; Frederick Millington, a railway lengthman, his wife Lucy and their two children; and by Arthur Harlow, an iron foundry labourer, and his wife Lucy.

In 1939, the records show that the Mill House was occupied by Arthur Silvester and his wife Louise. In 1970 the Mill House and some workshops were sold to the Greenwoods. The Greenwoods lived on the site for several years and used the workshop for their gunsmith business. Father and son were arrested and jailed in 1998. During this time, part of the main building collapsed and, along with the chimney, was demolished.

In 2004, the Mill House was bought by Alan Cartwright, the great grandson of Edmund Cartwright, inventor of the power loom.  He redeveloped it over the next ten years, preserving the building in its original state.

The rest of the site was acquired by Albert and Rose Ball who are listed in 1939 as living in the Bleach Yard, possibly in a caravan.  The Balls were a Romany family who settled in Little Eaton and prospered. Later, they bought the row of terraced cottages and, with their children, Albert, William and Rose, moved into one of them. They continued to let the others.

William and Rose Ball married and moved away. The mill ponds were filled in with household and other waste and the land was used to store fairground apparatus and to keep donkeys which they used for pleasure rides. When Mr and Mrs Ball died, Albert continued to live there and his sister Rose moved back in. Rose died in 1999 and Albert in 2004. The cottages have remained empty since then.              

Note

We are very grateful to Sue Carter, Chris Lavelle, Andrew Polkey and Alan Cartwright for their help in putting this together. There remain many questions and gaps and we would be grateful for contributions and corrections sent to Philip Hunter via our contact form. CONTACT

Philip and Ruth Hunter