Burford Mill, Witney Street, Burford, Oxfordshire
Location
On the north side of Witney Street in Burford,
Oxon., and currently known as Burford Mill. This mill lies at Grid Ref
SP25551205 (see SP2512 at
www.geograph.org.uk). Further details of the location may be
obtained at the Burford
Mill
self-catering
holiday
accommodation web site.
It has also at various times been referred to as The Witney Street
Mill, Upton Mill or Lower Mill, it may never have
been used for papermaking, however because of
the scope for confusion between this mill and the Upton Mill in the West
of the Parish of Upton & Signett, a history is being
built up to allow disambiguation.
Buildings
Thanks to its long association with the wool industry Burford used to
have
several fulling mills in the vicinity of the town. One of these was on
Witney Street.
History
In
1521, Burford's four mills were leased by the crown to Thomas
WILDYNG, a Yeoman of the Ewery, through a Patent, dated 3 May, 13 Henry
VIII (Gretton, pg 194, 655)
By 1538, the daughter and
administrator of Thomas WILDYNG, deceased, had sold her remaining
interest to John JOHNES of Burford. (Gretton, pg 655)
In Feb
1538, on the surrender of the Patent, dated 3 May, 13 Henry VIII,
John JOHNES of Burford, Oxon., leased for 21 years at £16 13s. 4d. rent
and 4d. increase:- two corn mills built under one roof called ' Burford mylles '
- a corn mill called Upton mill in the lordship of Burford
- a fulling mill in Burford
These
were part of the lands of the late Earl of Warwick (Gretton, pg 655)
and the fulling mill appears, from the evidence below, to be the
Witney Street Mill.
July 1545 saw the purchase by grant in fee to Edmund HARMAN [sic Edward HARMAN] of
- two grain mills called Burford Mills
- a grain mill called Upton Mill
- a fulling mill in Burford with a meadow called Le Holme
- land called Piggehill in Burford (Powers 1916, 84)
These, for which HARMAN paid £187 3s. 5d., were then in the tenure of John JONES. (Gretton, 657)
A
survey of 1552 identifies the Burford Mills (i.e. Port Mills), a
fulling mill in Burford, Oxon.(which Gretton takes to be the Witney
Street mill due to a reference elsewhere to a close 'in Witneystret
iuxta le Walkemylle') and a corn-mill in Upton, Oxon. (Gretton, pg
193-4)
In
his will dated 8 March 1576/7, Edmond HARMAN devised
to his brother James HARMAN "my mills called or knowen by the name
of the olde walke mylls now sett and beinge in the end or side of a
certaine streate in Burforde aforsaide called witney streate, and also
one meade by the same mills wherin are certaine pooles and clothe
rackes, and also one close and a little ham there called or knowen by
the name of pigg hill, and the ham belonging to the saide mills" [Dix
2007, 4] for his natural life, then to his wife Katherin HARMAN
until her decease, after which to his daughter Agnes BRAY and her
heirs. Should the succession of any of the property to Agnes heirs
be
threatened by her death without issue, then the mills were to go to his
other daughter Mary JOHNSON, wife of William JOHNSON [Dix 2007, 5].
From the description this mill was evidently being used for fulling.
From 11 May, 36 Elizabeth (1593), through until 12 Jan
1698, the ownership of a package of property was summarised
by a Mr. HARDING. This package (hereafter referred to
as WILTON's land) comprised:
- a
messuage with thappurts in Witney Streete in Burford in the county of
Oxon and to 5 acres thereto belonging lying in the comon ffeilds of
Burford and Signett
- a close of ground or pasture called the Wildernes
- a close of a meadow or pasture containing 2 Acres near the
east end of Witney Streete
On 11 May, 36 Elizabeth (1593), WILTON's land, with the exception of the two
acre
close, was sold by Walter JONES and Hellen his wife to Richard
MERYWEATHER for £120 (Gretton, pg 474)
On 12 August, 40 Elizabeth (1598), WILTON's land, with the exception
of the two acre close, was sold by MERYWEATHER to Sir
Anthony COPE (Gretton, pg 474)
On 28 July, 2 James I (1604), WILTON's land, with the exception of
the two acre
close, was sold by COPE to MERYWEATHER (Gretton, pg 474)
On 23 May, 5 James I (1607), a two-acre close was sold by Thomas SILVESTER to
MERYWEATHER (Gretton, pg 474)
On
17 January, 1619, MERYWEATHER mortgaged WILTON's land, except the
messuage, to Thomas CHURCH for £205 (Gretton, pg 474)
On 11 September 1620, WILTON's Land was conveyed
by MERYWEATHER , Thomas WIETT,
and CHURCH to John HIGHLORD and Susanne his wife (Gretton, pg 474)
On
30 & 31 May 1656, WILTON's Land formed part of the
marriage
settlement of John HIGHLORD (son and heir of
Zac. HIGHLORD)
to Elizabeth STYLE (Gretton, pg 474)
On 5 June, 7 William III, 1695 John HARDING leased property for a year,
comprising a capital messuage or tenament
on the East side of the High Street at Burford, Oxon., together with 24
acres of land, all occupied by John MINCHIN. He leased it from John
WARWICK of Curbridge, yeoman, Thomas SILVESTER of Curbridge, clothier
and Ralph TRUMBULL of Witney, clerk. On the next day (the 6th) this
conveyence was confirmed by an Indenture of sale between the same
parties. On the 7th HARDING settled the property on George WHITE of
Little Barrington, yeoman, and Samuel WHEELER of Burford, clothier.
Then on the 8th, HARDING settled it on Thomas HARRIS of Lineham, in
Shipton under Wychwood, yeoman, George WHITE of Little Barrington,
yeoman, and Samuel WHEELER of Burford, clothier, for the benefit of his
wife Anne and her children. (Gretton, pg 472-3)
On 1 August, 7 William III, 1695, an indenture, tripartite was
drawn up between:
- John SOUTHBY of Caswell, Berks., Esq., and Mary his wife,
of the first part ;
- John WARWICK of Curbridge, Thomas SILVESTER of Curbridge,
Ralph TRUMBULL of Witney and Hester his wife, of the second
part ;
- Samuel WHEELER of Burford and John HARDING of Burford, of
the third part.
Declared the purposes of a fine to be levied. It concerned WILTONS
land, now described as :
- A messuage and two corn mills and two fulling mills in
Burford or the hamlets of Burford, with meadow ground of five
acres belonging to the messuage and lying to the north of it
and adjoining to the mills,
- a ham lying near the meadow ground,
- all the closes adjoining the south of the tenement and
mills all which
These were sold by the first-named parties to Samuel
WHEELER (Gretton, pg
473)
On
22 & 23 April, 1697 the premises were sold by
John HIGHLORD of
Micham, Surrey, Esquire, only brother and heir of
Tho. HIGHLORD
Esq., deceased (the eldest son and heir of John HIGHLORD Esq.,
deceased, the eldest son and heir of Zac. HIGHLORD, the eldest
son
and heir of John HIGHLORD, citizen and Alderman of London), to
Sir
John COTTON and John STONE the younger of London, merchant (Gretton, pg
473)
On 11 & 12 January, 1698. The premises were sold by COTTON and
STONE to John
HARDING. (Gretton, pg 473)
On
12 Jan 1698 Mr. HARDING cited the previous ownership of the mill in
defence of his title. It was then in the possession of
Tristram WILTON or his assigns.(Gretton, pg 473)
In 1740 Henry KEYLOCK and his wife Jane moved to Burford to take over
the operation of the mill (Moody, 1998, Pg 17).
In
June 1758 Henry KEYLOCK died in the Burford Smallpox outbreak. From
around this time a gift of £1.1.0 was given by William JORDAN
to
KEYLOCK's widow and her family, which William recorded, undated, on a
list of disbursements on behalf of John LENTHALL. (Moody,
1998,
Pg 18)
On 30 Jan 1759 KEYLOCK's widow recieved 10s.6d from the Overseers for
the "use of her Mills cleansing Bedds and Blanketts" (Moody, 1998, Pg
18).
On 20th Aug 1759 an inquest was held into the suicide of KEYLOCK's
widow, which returned
the verdict 'Lunacy' (Moody, 1998, Pg 18)
The only mill mentioned on the Upton Enclosure Award of 9 Dec 1773 is
in connection with a public road that goes from Burford to Cirencester,
past the Rose and Crown, through the hamlet of Upton and toward the
Paper Mill belonging to Edward BAKER. This appears to be a reference to
Upton Papermill,
Upton, Oxon., rather than this one. (Gretton, pg 704)
On the gabel end of one of the main buildings there is a small
commemorative stone with the initials WH and the date 1790.
(personal observation in 2007)
In
the Burford enclosure award of 28 Feb 1795 an allotment of Thomas
HUNT and Lois HEYES includes ground in Stevens Ham "Bounded on N. by
back water course running from Higgins's Mill into the Windrush on S.E.
by allotment to Oriel on S. by Witney Turnpike Road and on N.W. by an
old inclosure in Burford called Chavasse's Paddock. is a reference to
(Gretton, pg 695) and later under William HIGGINS "Mill and Premises in
occupation of himself" and "The Meadow" (Gretton, pg 698)
Thomas
HUNTLEY snr.of Burford, mealman, occupied Chavasse's Close after
Chevasse and occupied it until he died. (Oxford Records Office
Catalogue, Hey/XI/i/18).
In 1822 Thomas HUNTLEY died and his
brother John HUNTLEY of High Wycome, Bucks., gent. occupied Chavasse's
close, with the mill and other closes. (Oxford Records Office
Catalogue, Hey/XI/i/18).
On Saturday, 12 Oct 1822, Jackson's
Oxford Journal
carried (Issue 3624.) carried a notice from the executors of
Thomas HUNTLEY of Burford, mealman, calling for his debts etc. to be
forwarded to Robert HUNTLEY, Surgeon at Faringdon, Berks., or John
HUNTLEY at the Mill, Burford.
In Spring 1836 John HUNTLEY gave up
the premesis to Thomas HUNTLEY's son Thomas Squire HUNTLEY. John later
(in 1857) declared that during the entire of his tenacy of the mill and
closes he paid the rent for the
whole (including Chavasse's Close) to Richard SQUIRE (trustee of the
marriage settlement of his late brother Thomas HUNTLEY), during which
time he did not receive any demand for rent from Matthew FINCH for the
said close nor from any other person. (Oxford Records Office
Catalogue, Hey/XI/i/18).
On 31st March, 1857 one Thomas Squire HUNTLEY late of Burford,
Oxon. but now of Horsley, Gloucs., gent. sold to James SAUNDERS of the
City of Oxford, Land Agent, meadow land including an ancient inclosure
called Chevasses' Close, situate in Steven's Ham between the back
watercourse from Burford Mill into
the River Windrush on ne and Witney Turnpike Road on the s.
(Oxford Records Office
Catalogue, Hey/XI/i/16). On the same day the Trustees for sale under
and Indenture of Settlement of 13 Oct. 1807 (Thomas Squire HUNTLEY, of
Burford, Oxon, gent., Richard HUNTLEY late of Kings Langley, Herts. and
now of Nottingham, gent., John Andrew GROOME of Kings Bangley
aforesaid, gent. [who married Margaret HUNTLEY] and William HUNTLEY of
Stoke upon Trent, Staffs., miller) agreed to sell the mill, its
adjoining cottage and farm and some associated meadow land
to James SAUNDERS of the City of Oxford, land agent. for
£3160. At
the time the premesis were occupied by Miss Clare and Thomas IMPEY.
On
4 May, 1857 John HUNTLEY of High Wycombe, Bucks. gent. aged 73, made a
statutory declaration concering Chevasses' Close that touched on the
history of that close (with the mill and other closes). (Oxford Records
Office
Catalogue, Hey/XI/i/18).
Dating from around 1857 Oxford Records Office
Catalogue, Hey/XI/i/19-23, 25-26
contain
a series of copies of burial and baptism certificates relating
to
'the freehold mill and heredits. at Burford'. These, all of which are
Quaker records, include:
- burial register of the Society of Friends for the Quarterly
Meeting of
Bristol and Somerset relating to the burial of William MATTHEWS
[married Mary HUNTLEY], age
about 68 on the 14th April 1816. at Bathford.
- burial
register of monthly meeting of Bury in the County of Suffolk
recording the burial of John SQUIRE of Shudy Camps,
Cambridgeshire,
late of Needham Market, Suffolk (who died 27 Feb. 1835) on 5 March 1835
at
the friends burial ground at Havershill.
- Extract
from the burial register of the Society of Friends for the
Quarterly Meeting of Buckinghamshire recording the death
of Richard SQUIRE of Kings Langley, gent. age 58. on the
23rd April 1835 and his burial on the 29th April 1835 at Berkamstead
and the death of Sarah Adams HUNTLEY of High Wycombe, Bucks,
spinster. age 26. on the 19th May 1834 and her burial at Berkhamstead
on the 25th May 1834. On these, one John HUNTLEY was registrar.
- Several other HUNTLEY registrations (see People section
below)
On
17 Jul 1858 James SAUNDERS mortgaged 2 corn mills and 1 seed
mill
(formerly 2 fulling mills) with appurts. in Burford together
with
land associated with his earlier purchase of Chavasse's Close and the
Mill, all described as formerly occupied by Thomas HUNTLEY.
On
8th November 1870 the officers of the church entered into an agreement
with one William Wilson SAUNDERS of Reigate, Surrey, Esq, to permit
them to put a drain into the mill pond or stream that supplied
SAUNDER's 'water corn mill called the Lower
Mill at a point under the said Mill Pond or Stream approx. 30 yds. from
the se. corner of the said churchyard.' (Oxford Records Office
Catalogue, Hey/XI/i/44).
In 2006 the Lord of the Manor of Burford assured me
that Upton Mill
(in Witney Street) was
owned by the LENTHALL family until his family bought it, and that this
would have covered the period during which the HATTON family were
involved with mills in the Burford area.
People
The HUNTLEY family
On 13 September 1768 at the
Burford Meeting, in a Quaker ceremony and before a long list of
witnesses, William MATTHEWS of Coggeshall, Essex, (son of John MATTHEWS
of Milton, Oxon., Cordwainer, and of Mary his wife) married Mary
HUNTLEY (daughter of Joseph HUNTLEY of Burford, Oxon., and Mary his
wife, both deceased). (Register of Births belonging to the Monthly
Meeting of Witney,
Oxfordshire from 1656 to 1736, with a Register of Marriages from 1664
to 1776, and a Register of Burials from 1659 to 1710, RG6 / Piece 1370
/ Folio 71)
Thomas HUNTLEY was born on 24 Mar
1782 in Burford, to Thomas and Hannah HUNTLEY, the birth being
witnessed by W'm CHAVASSE, Sarah CHAVASSE and Susannah BAKER
(Quaker birth record, Register of Birth Notes belonging to the
Quarterly Meeting of Berkshire
and Oxfordshire from 1760 to 1785 with one Death note for
1779,
RG6 / Piece 1617 / Folio 143). ( Register of Marriages for the
Quarterly Meeting of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire from 1795 to
1836, RG6 / Piece 1 / Folio 22)
On
28 December 1807, at the Friends Meeting Place in Hemel Hempsted,
Thomas HUNTLEY of Burford, mealman, (son of Thomas and Hannah HUNTLEY),
married Margaret SQUIRE, daughter of John SQUIRE of Kings Langley,
Herts, and sarah his wife, he being deceased. (
Dating from around 1857 Oxford Records Office
Catalogue, Hey/XI/i/19-23, 25-26
contain
a series of copies of burial and baptism certificates relating
to the HUNTLEY family. These, all of which are Quaker
records, include:
- Extract
from the burial register of the Society of Friends for the
Quarterly Meeting of Buckinghamshire recording the death
of Sarah Adams HUNTLEY of High Wycombe, Bucks, spinster.
age 26. on the 19th May 1834 and her burial at Berkhamstead
on the 25th May 1834. On this, one John HUNTLEY was registrar.
- Extracts from the burial register for the Quarterly Meeting
of Berks and
Oxon. for
- burial of Thomas HUNTLEY, of Burford,
age 40. at Burford on the 27th Sept. 1822 and who died
21 Sept. 1822
- burial
of Margaret HUNTLEY [nee SQUIRE], of Burford, wife
of Thomas HUNTLEY, of Burford age 40. at Burford on
15th
March 1819 who died 15th
March 1815.
- birth in the Hamlet of Upton & Signet
of Sarah Adams HUNTLEY, dau. of Thomas HUNTLEY, snr,
mealman,
and Margaret of Burford, on 31st August 1808. Witnessed by Pye
CHAVASSE, Surgeon & Mary HUNTLEY.
- birth in the Hamlet of Upton & Signett
of Thomas Squire HUNTLEY, son of
Thomas HUNTLEY, snr, mealman, and Margaret of Burford. on 15th
Sept. 1810. Witnessed by Pye CHAVASSE, Surgeon & Mary
HUNTLEY.
- birth of Eliza HUNTLEY, dau. of Thomas
and Margaret of Burford. on 3rd January 1812
- birth of Richard HUNTLEY, son of Thomas
and Margaret of Burford. on 11 Aug. 1813
- birth of Margaret HUNTLEY, dau. of
Thomas and Margaret of Burford. on 11th July 1814. and
- birth of John William HUNTLEY, son of
Thomas and Margaret of Burford. on 21 March 1818.
Bibliography
- Burford Parish Registers (transcripts at Oxford Records
Office)
- Online catalogues of Oxford Records Office and Oxford Local
Studies Centre
- DIX,
Angela (Transcriber). Edmond HARMAN of Burford, Will Proved 1577. 2007.
Cited 4 Apr 2011. Online: www.EnglandsPastForEveryone.org.uk/Explore.
- GRETTON, R. H., The Burford Records, Clarendon Press, MCMXX
(1920)
- FOREMAN,
William, Oxfordshire Mills, Phillimore & Co Ltd, 1983
- HARLEY, Basil & HOLMES, R. T., Paper
Making in Little
Barrington
(Tolsey Paper No
7), The Tolsey Museum, 1996
- MOODY, Jane, The Great Burford Smallpox Outbreak, Hindsight
of Burford, 1758
Any transcripts and images on this page are Copyright R I Kirby 2005
unless stated otherwise.
