Behind Lodgemore mill, Stroud

The sun has shone brightly all morning and we have had a slow restful day. John W. popped round to return some of my tools and a few books which I had lent to him and we had time for coffee whilst we chatted. Helena was even sitting outside at the patio table playing with the latest jigsaw.

Helena and I then drove to an area near the centre of town for a short blip walk down around Lodgemore and Fromehall mills which are are sited on the river Frome. We parked at the Clothiers Arms and then crossed over the A46 to walk down the old pathway towards the river. This was probably a route for donkeys and horses to carry wool to and from the mills and you can see it in my picture with bare limestone rock still forming its base, although rather rutted nowadays.

This view was the first picture I took, as I liked the sun shining on the brickwork with all the shadows, angled walls and bits of graffiti. The building is a more modern part of Lodgemore Mill, which is still actively producing cloth today, with its owners now specialising in the production of snooker table cloth and tennis balls. Their high quality products are used in professional tennis and snooker championships such as Wimbledon and World Snooker tournaments.

Cloth has been made at this Lodgemore site from as early as the 1400s. A mill was recorded here as belonging to the Spillman family in the 1400s. In 1608, two fulling mills are recorded in a dispute over water rights. The upper mill was known as Merrets Mill worked by Thomas Merret, a tucker (or fuller) and then by Richard Merret and owned by Richard Payne. The lower mill known as Nether Latemores Mill, was owned by Richard Browning. This current brick building is only a part of a complex range of buildings dotted around the site, and on both sides of the river, which has various ponds and weirs controlling the flow of water, which once provided the motive power.

We then walked further along the river past warehouses and open spaces, where buildings have been torn down, as far as Fromehall mill about two hundred yards downstream. There are lots of small buildings with light industrial businesses in some of the old mill buildings, as well as a few houses and cottages and even some artists' studios. We circled around spending time by the large mill pond watching swans, ducks, coots and gulls fighting each other for access to the food brought by various human visitors.

This scene was only about three hundred yards from the place where I shot yesterday's blip. It was good to be out and about again, enjoying fresh air and bright light. Long may it continue.