MDDM Ch. 75 The Mills

[Dave Monroe]

"'No loss, perhaps,-- thanks to the damn'd Clothiers,
no one can guarantee what, if anything, swims in the
Frome anymore,' avoiding any prolonged talk of
Frailty, which he can see is costing Dixon more than
his reserve of cheer may afford.  'The Mills, curse
them all....'" (M&D, Ch. 75, p. 743)


The Frome

"Froom, actually"

http://www.strum.co.uk/twilight/frome.htm

The River Frome, or Froom as it used to be spelt,
rises in Gloucestershire, England at Doddington (near
Tetbury).  It then runs through Iron Acton, Hambrook,
Frenchay, Stapleton and Eastville Park. Before the
Storm Water Interceptor was built at Eastville the
river continued happily through to Baptist Mills and
St Jude's and (underground) into the [Bristol] City
Centre....

http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/livingeaston/environment/frome.html#RiverFrome

Bristol, which means 'Bridge Town' or 'Place of the
Bridge', first existed on high ground on the
Gloucester side of the River Avon. By 1000AD it had
become an important trading centre.... In the 13th
Century (1240 - 48) the Frome was straightened out ...
to a new junction with the Avon. When this massive
Mediaeval engineering feat was completed Bristol had a
new harbour which replaced the Avon wharves as the
centre of the city's port trade....

During the period which followed (1248-1809) Bristol
became a prosperous City based on two rivers the Avon
and the Frome. Due to its increasing colonial
import-export trade and the eventual mega-profits of
its trade in slaves and sugar Bristol became the
'Metropolis of the West'....
 
Up river, on what was then the outskirts of Bristol,
the River Frome continued to play an important role in
Bristol's industrial and leisure activities. As well
as being a source of water power for a whole series of
mill operated industries the Frome also provided
opportunities for the local population to enjoy
themselves....

http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/livingeaston/environment/frome.html#FromeHistory

http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/livingeaston/environment/frome.html

Along the Frome are the mills that were working there
from the 15th century onwards. From Stapleton to
Frenchay there were 6 mills which made use of the drop
in the river bed (nearly 50 ft.) in this section.
These were originally corn mills, but later were
converted into other uses, e.g. snuff, flock, etc. 

Now, all that remains are the weirs except at Snuff
Mills where the wheel has been restored by the Local
History Society.

Due to the deep waters and the fast flow of the river
Frome, mill ponds were not needed and the wheels that
drove the mills were driven by the water flowing
beneath them. This is called ‘undershot’.

[...]

The name Frome comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘frum’,
meaning rapid, vigorous....

http://www.fishponds.org/riverfrm.htm

The River Frome is essentially a rural catchment of
high amenity and ecological value. The upper part of
the catchment lies within the Dorset Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty and is characterised by
steep-sided valleys....

http://www.ecn.ac.uk/sites/frome.html

This is the "embowered path", as Hardy calls it in his
early novel Under the Greenwood Tree....

http://members.aol.com/thardy1001/index4.html


Clothiers

What made Frome the relatively large prosperous
medieval town was the wool industry, as at that time
the export of wool was the chief source of revenue for
all concerned, not least the crown. Many a campaign
was fought on the proceeds of wool during the middle
ages. From simply being a trade centre for wool, the
town progressed into cloth production thus adding to
the income and prosperity of the Frome in general....
Frome was well place to take advantage of this growth
with its readily available energy source, namely the
river  Frome, that over the centuries has powered many
a mill.... A popular dye until the coal tar dyes were
brought in as the local industry declined was the blue
dye, woad, reputedly the colour used by the ancient
Britons who faced up to Caesar....

http://users.breathemail.net/djsteward/Frome/Frome.htm


"The Mills, curse them all"

http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/blake33.html

http://www.english.uga.edu/nhilton/Blake/blaketxt1/milton.html

http://www.blakearchive.org/cgi-bin/nph-dweb/blake/Illuminated-Book/MILTON/milton.c/@Generic__BookView;cv=java

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/blakeinteractive/works/jeru_intro.html

http://www.btinternet.com/~j.b.w/mill.htm

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes
http://finance.yahoo.com