Witney Mill

Also known as Woodford Mill

Situation
On a fairly narrow strip of land between Mill Road and the River Windrush. The area is low lying and backs onto river meadows.

Physical structure
The extensive area of the Witney Mill complex was based around the site of a Medieval cloth fulling mill known as Woodford or Waterford Mill. It was recorded as a fulling mill as early as 1277 and is probably one of the oldest sites associated with woollen manufacture in Witney. It may be one of the mills recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Witney Mill, early 19th century mill buildings at the rear of the premises.

The earliest structure still standing today is the former offices by the entrance to the mill, probably dating from around 1750 [1]; it was originally built as a house. The next oldest surviving building dates from around the 1820s, a period when the Early family began to lease and acquire land piece by piece around this area of Witney. This process continued throughout the 19th century with the Early's making many new additions to the works including installing a portable steam engine in 1854, installing steam powered looms in 1858, erecting a new engine house and boiler in 1864 and building a power loom shed south of the mill pond in 1865.

Witney Mill, the rebuilt range of 1905 fronting Mill Street.

In 1888 Charles Early bought the site of the ancient fulling mill of Woodford Mill and soon after that the adjoining flour mill called Witney Mill and some cottages, finally bringing the whole site under a single ownership. The whole site was known from then on as Witney Mill. He employed the local builder William Cantwell to build new ranges of two- and three-storey buildings and adapt old ones in order to centralise the manufacture of blankets in one place [2]. The tall brick chimney that can still be seen today dates from 1895.

A serious fire in 1905 destroyed the original central building of Witney Mill (spanning the mill race at right angles to Woodford Mill), which had contained gigs, spinning, and whipping equipment. The fire-damaged buildings were partially rebuilt and extended further along Mill Street, along with the addition of new buildings between Mill Street and the tailrace of the mill.

Witney Mill, the 1930s block on the south side of Mill Street.

During the 20th century Witney Mill expanded to the south side of Mill Street when a large red brick building, chiefly for spinning operations, was erected in the 1930s (this building still exists in 2006 but the site is shortly to be redeveloped). Up to this period waterwheel and steam power had been supplemented variously by water turbines, gas engines and electric motors but during the 1930s a new generator house was built and electricity replaced all other forms of power.

In the 1960s a large new warehouse and office block designed for more streamlined production methods was added on to an area to the west of the Victorian buildings. This ultimately became the centre for Early's operations at Witney Mill. The new warehouse was single storied and contained facilities for storage, cutting up, tabbing, binding, packing and checking, as well as a board room, wholesale and retail sales rooms, offices and a separate accounting and computing room [3]. The Victorian parts of the site generally became derelict and the 1930s spinning plant closed, but the boiler house and its 110 foot chimney stack was retained as this still supplied heating and hot water to the newer parts of the mill [4].

Witney Mill, buildings alongside the mill race, now converted into housing.

Since 2000 the older parts of Witney Mill complex have been converted into flats with other new housing being added to it. A way-marked public footpath runs through the estate and across the river so the surviving old mill buildings can still be enjoyed. The site of the large 1960s building adjacent has been bulldozed and a housing estate has been erected on it.

Owners
In the Medieval period there were up to three mills on the site, only one of which seems to have been used for fulling; the others were corn mills. In the 12th and 13th centuries the fulling mill appears to have gone out of use, but during the 17th and 18th centuries the Collier family owned a fulling mill here.

Workers walking along Mill Street to Witney Mill, early 20th century.

By 1830 John Early and Co. were established as blanket makers on the site, leasing it from the Duke of Marlborough; their part was known as Witney Mill. In the 1880s we know that a William Clinch (of a local banking family) owned the land, as he sold it at this point to Charles Early. Woodford and Witney mills then became part of the same site, which from that time was simply known as 'Witney Mill', under the control of Charles Early and Co. Succeeding generations of the Early family expanded the area of the mill and added new elements to the complex.

Early's combined with Marriott's to form Charles Early and Marriott (Witney) Limited in 1960. A controlling interest in this company was acquired by Grovewood Securities, who went into receivership in October 1991. A management buy-out for Early's business here plus their Burford Road premises occurred shortly after this, with some of the remaining Early's land being bought by All Souls College, Oxford. In 2001 Aster Holdings acquired the business. Witney Mill was the last working blanket factory in Witney, trading under the Early name until 19th July, 2002. After the firm closed in Witney, weaving machinery and the Early name was acquired by Quiltex, an American company, and transferred to their Derbyshire factory [5].

What was the site used for?
In the Medieval period cloth fulling took place here and continued to do so for several hundred years. It was also an area that attracted various other business and domestic activities at different times (including a flour mill and workers' houses). Once the Early's had acquired and developed Witney Mill it gradually became a centralised unit for blanket making where all production processes could take place. Previously manufacture had been split between Newland and New Mill, which were two miles apart [6].

Knitted cellular blankets were also produced from the 1950s onwards. Fiberweaving was introduced at Witney Mill in the late 1960s, and used to make blankets, floor coverings (including 'Warlord', a popular office flooring) and industrial felts among other products.

Clare Sumner