Today we look at another old cloth mill from around the Stroud Valleys, and this has a lovely name. It's called Frogmarsh Mill and stands a few yards to the roundhouse I showed you on September 23rd. This mill would have got its teasels from the roundhouse where they were dried out before used to tease out the sheep’s wool.
The first record of this mill dates from 1658 when it was owned by a Clutterbuck Dean from nearby Minchinhampton. The mill stood on the Nailsworth stream that used to drive the machinery in the mill along with 4 or 5 other cloth mills along the valley.
Later years the mill was increased as the owners brought in their cottage weavers under the one roof and also later steam machines increased productivity along with the mill water wheels.
Cloth making seized by 1853 and a new venture came to the mill, pin making. This continued until 1939 when there were too many mills now converted to the manufacture on pins and the City of Birmingham became the main place to get them.
By 1939 the mill was home to the Carr Tanning Company, who came to specialise in sheepskin leathers for the shoe and slipper trade. At one time, the company employed over 100 local workers. Today there are many various companies with this building now a Bike shop called the Bike Works.
