The Captains

Situation
In a courtyard now known as 'Captains Mill', set back from West End, Witney.

Physical structure

The Captains, detail of the crane attached to the south gable wall.

A three-storey L-shaped mill, built of coursed limestone with red-brick arches to the window heads (each with stone keystones) and a slate roof. An iron crane is still fixed to the top storey of the gable end wall facing the street.

Owners
'The Captains' probably dates from the early or mid-19th century. It may have belonged at one time to Richard Early (who died in 1874) and probably was used by his brother Henry Early in the latter part of the 19th century [1]. Henry also made blankets at Worsham Mill (which he had acquired from Richard) and at the factory on Woodgreen in Witney.

Charles Early and Co. acquired The Captains from Henry Early, probably in the 1890s [2]; it had been sold off by 1967 when operations became centralised at Witney Mill and Mount Mills [3].

The origin of the name is not known, although a Captain G.N. Nowell was recorded as living next door at 34 West End in the 1901 census.

What was the site used for?

The Captains, the courtyard showing conversion to housing.

The Captains was initially used as a handloom weaving establishment [4] with storage and warehousing on the upper floors. It was still shown as a 'Blanket Factory' on the 1899 6-inch Ordnance Survey map, after it had been acquired by Charles Early and Co., but it was later used as a warehouse [5]. It has now been converted into housing.

Clare Sumner