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THIS IS LONGFORD Now in our sixteenth century! Longford's Mills
This page was last updated on
17 May 2007 |
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last updated on
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The information for this section has been taken from The Victoria History of the County of Middlesex, Volume 4. In 1086 there were three mills on Harmondsworth manor, worth in all 60s (£3.00 in today's currency, without inflation of course!). By 1293-4 there were only two water mills. One was probably a corn mill. A corn mill was definitely still in existence in 1324 and in 1325 there were both corn and malt water mills. The mills were repaired in the late 14th century. In 1433-4 only one mill, the corn mill at Longford, was being farmed, but the malt mill was almost certainly still working since barley malt was being produced and there was at this time a thatched malthouse on the manor. The miller of Harmondsworth Mill at Longford can be found mentioned in 1449. One water-mill only at Longford was rented in 1493-4 but in 1501 Harmondsworth Mills, comprising a wheat mill and a malt mill in two houses at Longford, and the fishery of the mill stream, were leased by Winchester College to John Smallbroke of Longford, who received a livery of clothing from the college. The manor was exchanged with the King in 1543. In 1546, the King leased Longford Mills for 60 years to Sir Philip Hoby. Hoby sold his interest in 1548 to Sir Thomas Paston and in 1560, Edward Fitzgarret, who had married Paston's widow, sold the lease to Thomas Warde of Longford. It was acquired in 1565 by Edmund Downing and in 1566 by John Tamworth, who in turn sold it to Arnold Lumley in 1568. Longford Mills are mentioned in 1583 and 1587, but Edward Fitzgarret was returned in a rental of 1587 as holding the only mill. A lease of 1615 to Thomas, Lord Knyvett, and William Steere of Loughborough, mentions the mills, and in 1621 a lease of Barnards manor farm included two corn water mills in one house at Longford. In 1622 one of these two mills was said to have been formerly a fulling mill. The situation of two mills under one roof at Longford probably explains why they are sometimes referred to in the singular and sometimes in the plural. By 1647 the house described as formerly a fulling mill had been converted into a malt mill, with fishing rights along the middle river as far as Blackengrove, which lay on the boundary with Stanwell. The wheat mill, 'furnished with French stones', stood on Colney stream and was called Longford Mills. The malt and corn mills are again mentioned in 1648 but are not afterwards expressly named. Later references to mills at Longford probably refer to the paper mills. It is not known when paper mills were first started in Longford, but in 1636 Longford mill was among the Middlesex paper mills closed because of the plague. This mill must have been rebuilt, for in 1647 there were three newly built mills adjoining the wheat mill in Longford, one driving 24 hammers and the others 15 hammers each. There were also two drying houses. In 1656 Thomas Holland, the miller and papermaker, agreed with Lord Paget to carry out repairs and enlarge the mills. In 1662 Longford mills, probably the paper mills, were let at £33-10s. The paper mills were repaired in 1697 and new machinery to make 'fine white writing paper' was installed. In 1697 and 1701 the two writing paper mills were let to Nicholas Faulcon of St Giles, Cripplegate, at £65 a year. Apart from the two mill houses, the property comprised two vat rooms, two drying lofts, a sizeing room, a water house, and a drywork house. The mills stood on opposite sides of the river, one being 'next to Longford town'. Further repairs were carried out in 1704, and between January 1705 and May 1707, the mills sold slightly over 8,576 reams of paper. There was a dwelling house with 2 acres of land attached to the paper mills in 1715. Paper makers worked in the parish until 1762, but after this date there are no references to any mills until the mid 19th century, when a map of the Colne and its tributaries showed the site of former calico mills at Longford. The existence of a calico mill in Longford is supported by the mention in 1829 of Matthew Ferris of Longford, a calico printer.
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