Saltford Brass Mill
Encyclopedia
Saltford Brass Mill is a brass mill on the River Avon at Saltford
, Somerset
, England. It dates from the 1720s is listed as Grade II* and is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument
.
There was a watermill on the site at the time of the Domesday Book
and it is the last surviving of over 30 mills which were once on this stretch of the Avon.
Local brass
making was initiated in Bristol
around 1700 by the family of Abraham Darby
who later moved upstream because of the better water supply at Saltford and Keynsham
. The brass was made from Cornish
ores refined at Crew's Hole
and then transported via the river. These were mixed with calamine
from the Mendip Hills
to make calamine brass
. This changed as processes improved and local copper smelting was replaced by supplies from Swansea
. By the 1850s zinc
metal was used instead of calamine, using a process introduced by William Champion
, who lived nearby.
The site includes a battery mill which was used for hollowing out brass sheet to make pans, bowls and vats, some of which are on display. There is also a complete annealing
furnace, one of four originally installed, which were used to heat the brass to reduce the likelihood of it cracking while it was being worked. The furnace is claimed to be one of the best remaining examples of this technology. There are also the remains of the water wheel
s initially used to power the machinery, one of which is still in working order. The battery mills were supplemented by rolling mills
between 1760 and 1830, as this produced more even sheets of metal than the original battery techniques. However battery ware was still produced at the site until 1908, the last mill in Britain to do so.
The mill ceased production in 1924. In 1995 it was restored and is now supported by a group of volunteers in conjunction with English Heritage
and the owners Bath and North East Somerset
Council.
Saltford
Saltford is a large village and civil parish in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. It lies between the cities of Bristol and Bath....
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England. It dates from the 1720s is listed as Grade II* and is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument
Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...
.
There was a watermill on the site at the time of the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
and it is the last surviving of over 30 mills which were once on this stretch of the Avon.
Local brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
making was initiated in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
around 1700 by the family of Abraham Darby
Abraham Darby I
Abraham Darby I was the first, and most famous, of three generations with that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. He developed a method of producing pig iron in a blast furnace fuelled by coke rather than charcoal...
who later moved upstream because of the better water supply at Saltford and Keynsham
Keynsham
Keynsham is a town and civil parish between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, south-west England. It has a population of 15,533.It was listed in the Domesday Book as Cainesham, which is believed to mean the home of Saint Keyne....
. The brass was made from Cornish
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
ores refined at Crew's Hole
Crew's Hole, Bristol
Crew's Hole is located in east Bristol near St George.From the early 18th century it was an industrial area including oil refineries and a tar works site at the bottom of Troopers Hill....
and then transported via the river. These were mixed with calamine
Calamine (mineral)
Calamine is a historic name for an ore of zinc. The name calamine was derived from the Belgian town of Kelmis, whose French name is "La Calamine", which is home to a zinc mine...
from the Mendip Hills
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...
to make calamine brass
Calamine brass
Calamine brass is brass produced by a particular alloying technique using the zinc ore calamine directly, rather than first refining it to metallic zinc...
. This changed as processes improved and local copper smelting was replaced by supplies from Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
. By the 1850s zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
metal was used instead of calamine, using a process introduced by William Champion
William Champion (metallurgist)
William Champion is credited with patenting a process in Great Britain to distill zinc from calamine using charcoal in a smelter.Champion came from a family who were already concerned in the metal trade at Bristol, his father being a leading partner in the Bristol Brass Company. As a young man he...
, who lived nearby.
The site includes a battery mill which was used for hollowing out brass sheet to make pans, bowls and vats, some of which are on display. There is also a complete annealing
Annealing (metallurgy)
Annealing, in metallurgy and materials science, is a heat treatment wherein a material is altered, causing changes in its properties such as strength and hardness. It is a process that produces conditions by heating to above the recrystallization temperature, maintaining a suitable temperature, and...
furnace, one of four originally installed, which were used to heat the brass to reduce the likelihood of it cracking while it was being worked. The furnace is claimed to be one of the best remaining examples of this technology. There are also the remains of the water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
s initially used to power the machinery, one of which is still in working order. The battery mills were supplemented by rolling mills
Rolling (metalworking)
In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through a pair of rolls. Rolling is classified according to the temperature of the metal rolled. If the temperature of the metal is above its recrystallization temperature, then the process is termed as hot rolling...
between 1760 and 1830, as this produced more even sheets of metal than the original battery techniques. However battery ware was still produced at the site until 1908, the last mill in Britain to do so.
The mill ceased production in 1924. In 1995 it was restored and is now supported by a group of volunteers in conjunction with English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
and the owners Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the County of Avon. It is part of the Ceremonial county of Somerset...
Council.