Kimmins Mill at Dudbridge

I dropped Helena at her work by 8-30am and then went to our local Argos store which has now been relocated from the town centre to within the large Sainsbury’s store on the edge of the town at Dudbridge. I did want a bit of grocery shopping but I had to pick up the new cat flap I’d ordered from Argos to replace the one damaged by the large ginger cat on Sunday when it attacked our cat, Indie, when she was behind the flap inside the house.

When I got out of the car in Sainsbury’s car park I looked up and noticed the view of this old mill building was uniquely free of cars. I turned back to the car to get my little camera and took two snaps. Kimmins Mill was built in 1849, on a much older and larger industrial site over the Nailsworth stream where a waterwheel produced ample power. 

Sadly the mill went into disuse as has much of this and the adjacent Dudbridge industrial works. Some parts were recorded in documents as existing in 1291, though the majority of historical records date from 1659 onwards. There were dye works, fulling stocks, a gig mill and a knapping mill. In the 20th century the Hampton Car factory was established between 1912 and 1937, whilst several small metal working companies used some of the old mill buildings. In recent years most of the buildings have been flattened to build the Sainsbury’s store, as well as a much more recent Lidl store.

Kimmins Mill capitalised on its location close to the Nailsworth branch line of the Midland railway. A gantry ran directly from the station at Dudbridge to loading doors on the main mill building (on the other side from this view). The Dudbridge station has now disappeared, and the Ebley Bypass now sits on top of the old railway line route.

I was intrigued to read this story on a local history website. 
‘Sainsbury's supermarket was built in 1996–97, on the site of the former Lewis & Hole foundry to designs by Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson of Sheffield. It was the site of national press and TV coverage when local resident Eileen Halliday (described as the ‘Boadicea of Dudbridge’), refused offers by Sainsbury's to purchase her cottage on the corner of the site to allow the access road to be built. She won her battle, and the road and car park were relocated’.

Once the store was built Kimmins Mill became a centre for industrial history for some years, but in 2020 the building was offered for sale, with a view to a residential developer managing to transform the building. The sale went ahead but no development has yet happened. It is a bit of a noisy site now next to a roundabout at the start of the Ebley By-pass.