The
Mill at Badsey:
A history of the Mill as summarised from the deeds
Pre 1747 – At some stage, two Water Corn Mills existed, formerly owned by Joseph Smith, then by his son Anthony Smith. Anthony Smith probably died in 1747 and the estate passed to his son, Joseph, who may well have been a minor.
1747 – One Water Mill existed, known as Badsey Mills. The estate consisted then of:
Mrs Ann Smith of Badsey, the widow of Anthony Smith, late of Badsey and Harvington (this may have been the Anthony Smith baptised at Badsey in 1694), Miller, mortgaged the Mill to John Hughes of Evesham, Gardener, for £100; if she paid the money back with interest, the Mill would be returned. This was presumably because her son, Joseph, who was to inherit the estate, was under age, and Ann needed the money.
1753 – Ann Smith had paid the interest but not the £100. John Hughes, by the direction of Ann Smith, mortgaged the Mill to Miss Bridget Laugher of Evesham for £150, £100 of which went to John Hughes and £50 to Ann Smith.
1759 – Ann Smith, now living at Evesham, sold the Mill to her son, Joseph Smith, Miller, of Harvington, presumably having attained the age of 21. Joseph Smith redeemed the mortgage with Bridget Laugher, paying £150 with £6 interest, and he agreed to pay his mother a yearly rent charge of £12 and within six months of his mother’s death, pay £120 to the Executors and Administrators. Benjamin Smith, another of her sons, was the tenant of Ann Smith. The mortgage was at that stage assigned back to John Hughes (presumably to safeguard Ann Smith’s position).
1774 – Edward Wilson sold a piece of ground called The Orchard to Joseph Smith for £63; Joseph was then living in Evesham. This was a plot of about half an acre which included:
1786 – John Hughes died. In his will, John Hughes appointed Richard Hirons of Winchcombe, Gentleman, John Hughes of Bristol, farmer, and Thomas Hughes of Evesham, Gentleman, as his executors.
1793 – Now used as a Corn Mill. Joseph Smith died and the Corn Mills passed to his son, Anthony; Joseph’s brother, Benjamin, had been living at the Mill.
1795 – Anthony Smith mortgaged the Mill to William Ford, maltster, of Bretforton, for £300.
1813 – William Ford assigned the mortgage to Richard Hirons, who paid £300 to Ford and advanced £200 to Anthony Smith. The value was now mortgaged at £500.
1817 – Richard Hirons died and his wife, Elizabeth, became the mortgagee.
1818 – The Mill was now being used as a Grist Mill. Anthony Smith, son of Joseph Smith, sold the mill for £1200 to John Thorp, a Silk Manufacturer from Coventry (£400 was paid to Elizabeth Hirons, Mortgagee, and £800 to Anthony Smtih); John Thorp immediately set about converting it into a silk mill. He erected a very large and substantial brick building nearly adjoining the old Mill, on part of the land called the Naite.
1819 – John Thorp obtained a mortgage of £1400/£1500 from Robert Lunn of Norton and Lenchwick in order to complete the silk mill.
1834 – John Thorp died; John’s half-brothers, Thomas Thorp and Samuel Thorp, were Executors and Trustees, acting in trust for John’s daughter, Elizabeth, who was to inherit at the age of 21. Part of the mortgage was paid off.
1847 – Robert Lunn died and his eldest son, Robert, became Mortgagee.
1848 – Thomas Thorp died leaving Samuel Thorp as sole surviving Executor and Trustee.
1851 – Robert Lunn, the eldest son of Robert Lunn, the Mortgagee, reconveyed the Mill back to Samuel Thorp.
1853 – Elizabeth Stratton (née Thorp), John Thorp’s daughter, died. She had married her cousin, Henry Thorp, in 1838, and had four children; after his death, she married Robert Mansell Stratton. Two of the children died in infancy, leaving Eliza Thorp and Frank Thorp to inherit the Mill.
1863 – Eliza Thorp and Frank Thorp sold the Mill by Public Auction to William Parker of Badsey, having earlier sold off the Orchard to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford. (Christ Church Library has a large poster for this auction - their reference Badsey & Wickhamford 165. The sale was on 12 October 1863 at Evesham. Lot 1 was 'Badsey Silk Mill with the Dwellng Cottage'. Lot 2 was 'Garden with Orchard'. Also sold was a 'Quantity of Valuable Machines Now in Badsey Mill'. The poster gives the dimensions of some of the rooms in the mill.)
The following notes on the mill are copied from A Brief History of Badsey and Aldington (first edition). This was written before the collection of deeds bcame available.
"Pevsner specifically mentions the existence of an old Mill House dated 1711, but it is improbable that this was a silk mill; an indenture of 1712 refers to the 'garden of Joseph Smith belonging to Badsey Mills' and another dated 1759 indicates the sale by widow Ann Smith to Joseph Smith of Harvington for the sum of 5s of "all that water corn mill, being formerly called two water corn mills... with all stones, tools, implements belonging to the same". It is likely that Badsey's silk mill came into existence early in the 19th century when similar enterprises sprang up at Broadway, Blockley and Winchcombe. It was to be deplored: "it was worked chiefly by child labour and young at that, little girls of eight years old and upwards being hired out, doing half-days at work, mornings and afternoons on alternate weeks, for which they were paid 2s 6d each Saturday. The business was that of silk throwing, the hanks of white silk being first washed and then wound on small engines while the children stood by on stools to take the bobbins off" In March 1822 one, Sarah Belcher, told a Public Enquiry that "she was sent by the Governor and Guardians of the Poor of North Littleton to Badsey Silk Mills to serve Mr. Atkins in the business of silk-winding, receiving 1s 7½d from the said master and 10½d from the Parish of North Littleton; later she was paid 2s 6d a week until she was hurt in the Mill". Bentley's Directory of Worcestershire for 1841 states that at Badsey "a silk mill gives employment to about 70 of the villagers", but this conflicts with the evidence of the census of that year which details Thomas Gee (aged 20) as silk throwster, and Elizabeth Hartwell (aged 16) and Judith and Martha Mustin (aged 65 and 40) as winders; there was no one else and no one from Aldington. In 1855 lsaac Gee decided to erect a new Mill and the 18th century building was demolished; in 1864 the new Mill opened; the owners may well have been short of ready cash, since in 1863 they sold their orchard, adjacent to the Glebe, to Thomas Hunt for £165. But the days of the Silk Mills were numbered; Badsey Brook cannot have been an ideal source of power, while cheap, exploited female labour would soon be denied by national legislation. Badsey's manufacturing industry perished as her horticulture blossomed; there was, after all, plenty of work on the land for women. The new Mill was converted into residential accommodation."
Mill Cottages: photos between 1945 and 1968
Notes on Thorp family who were owners of the Silk Mill