Saltford Brass Battery Mill

Summary

The standing and buried remains of Saltford Brass Battery Mill and its water management system, principally established by the Bristol Brass Company in the early C18 and expanded and altered in the C19.

Reasons for Designation

Saltford Brass Battery Mill is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: a legible complex of C18 water-powered battery mills with its water management system established by the Bristol Brass Company in the early C18 and expanded and altered in the C19. Saltford is an important survivor from the brass industry in Bristol, the last of over 30 that once operated along the River Avon, with its association with Abraham Darby, the prominent Ironmaster who played a significant role in the Industrial Revolution;

* Potential: for further archaeological evidence of the brass industry and mill complex layout to survive below ground;

* Rarity: as a well-preserved example of an C18 battery brass mill retaining physical evidence of the innovatory developments within the brass industry at this time, including the process of annealing and the creation of the ‘muffle’ kiln.

* Group value: Saltford Brass Battery Mill forms a group with Kelston Mills (Grade II), as two surviving examples of the once numerous brass mills that operated along the River Avon in the C18;

History

Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, may have been in small scale production in the Romano-British period in England. After this the technical skills appear to have been lost in England, and brass was imported from the continent throughout the medieval period. Efforts in the 16th century to create an English brass industry failed due to the poor quality of native calamine and copper ore, but by the 1690s a number of water-powered brass mills were in production in the London area. The London industry was superseded in the early 18th century by foundries in Bristol, which had better transport links via the River Avon and were closer to good quality supplies of calamine and coal.

The Bristol Brass Company, the operator of Saltford Brass Mill, was established in 1702 by the prominent Ironmaster Abraham Darby and other Quaker industrialists. It provided brassware for Bristol based merchant venturers and played a role in the triangular trade; manufacturing items that were then traded for enslaved people in the burgeoning transatlantic slave trade between Bristol, West Africa, and the Caribbean.

Saltford Mill (listed at Grade II*) was acquired by the Bristol Brass Company in 1721 on the site of a probable fulling mill. Archaeological, documentary and fabric evidence confirms that the earlier mill was a cruciform shape, and it is likely that some parts were incorporated into the later brass mill.

The brass mill was initially laid out as a complex of battery mills and an associated annealing shop, where heavy water powered tilt hammers, known as ‘batteries', were used to transform heavy brass plates into thin shaped sheets and to shape up hollow-ware vessels such as pans and bowls. In 1754 the site was described by a Swedish metallurgist, RR Angerstein, as comprising of three workshops with twelve hammers. A process called 'annealing', in which the metal was repeatedly heated to make it more malleable and prevent cracking during shaping, was undertaken in an associated annealing shop which included four furnaces specifically tailored to the process. This was originally achieved with charcoal furnaces, however an increase in the price of charcoal due to competition with other industries led to the invention and use of the ‘muffle’ kiln, developed by Nehemiah Champion. The 'muffle kiln' could burn cheaper coal without exposing the metal to the harmful sulphur fumes it produced. It achieved this by using a chamber made of stones and sealed and re-sealed with clay, separating the metal from the fire without compromising on temperature. Saltford Mill had four of these kilns at its peak in the late C18 and one survives today.

By 1765 the mill had diversified its processes to include a rolling mill. Water powered rolling machines were used to roll the brass into thinner, more even sheets. In order to accommodate the rolling machines, it is understood that the number of battery hammers were likely to have been reduced.

The Bristol brass industry began to decline from the later C18 onwards due to a combination of competition from Birmingham with its technological advancements and as a result of the decline of the West African market following the abolition of the trade in enslaved people. This resulted in the Bristol Brass Company reducing the number of mills it operated in the Avon area from nine to three. Saltford Mill was one of the three mills that continued to operate, however documentary evidence would suggest that it was impacted by these changes. By 1862 it is described as being ‘old and decaying’ when it was sold to Donald and David. They undertook a programme of modernisation, and this investment helped the mill continue to function until the early C20 when it finally closed. The battery mills were last used in 1908, in 1912 the mill buildings to the east of the site were demolished and the rolling mills closed in 1925 when the Bristol Brass Company ceased trading.

Following the closure of the Bristol Brass Company, Saltford Mill was purchased by Eric Butler, a director of Willian Butler and Company. The machinery related to the brass industry was mostly removed and the complex adapted as a sports centre for Eric Butler’s personal use. This adaptation included the installation of a squash court in place of the battery hammers and the introduction of electric light which was powered by a waterwheel-driven dynamo. By the 1930s the western workshop and the southern twin furnace had been demolished and the eastern and southern extensions had disappeared. In the latter half of the C20 the site was sold again and utilised for the construction of boats and for the mooring of leisure craft. It is likely that the land between the northern leats was extended at this time to provide more mooring space. A dwelling was built on the location of the eastern workshops in the 1960s and may incorporate some earlier fabric.

In 1976 the site was in a dilapidated condition and a survey was carried out by the British Industrial Archaeological Society (BIAS) with detailed drawings produced. In 1981 the Avon Industrial Buildings Trust (AIBT) took a lease on the Mill buildings. They undertook archaeological investigations across the site in 1986, which showed that extensive remains existed below ground. These included a large, wooden anvil base presumed to be associated with a single tilt-hammer. In the 1990s a programme of research and archaeological assessment was undertaken by the City of Hereford Archaeology Unit. This detailed the development of the mill complex from the C18 to its decline in the C20. In 1995, following this work, Bath and North East Somerset Council took a long repairing lease on the site and leased back part of the mill to the freeholder. In 2013 the remainder of the site was let to the Saltford Brass Mill Poject who maintain the site and open it to the public as a museum.

Details

The standing and buried remains of Saltford Brass Battery Mill and its water management system, principally established by the Bristol Brass Company in the early C18 and expanded and altered in the C19.

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: the standing and buried remains of Saltford former Brass Mill and its water management system, principally established by the Bristol Brass Company in the early C18 and expanded and altered in the C19. The site is situated on a small plot of land to the west of the River Avon with waterwheels served by a head race controlled by sluices just above the Kelston weir, effectively creating an island on which the mill and a separate residence sit.

DESCRIPTION: the main mill complex comprises of a number of closely-grouped and linked single storey rectangular buildings, generally constructed of loosely coursed lias limestone rubble with pantile roofs. This complex is located on an island that is defined by the mills leats and tailrace to the north and south and a rubble stone wall to the east. The leats to the north are retained by rubble stone walls and the boundary to the west is marked by a rubble stone wall with cock and hen coping and ashlar stone gatepiers.

Water from the River Avon provided the power for the complex, powering waterwheels within the mills buildings via four leats, which pass from the north under the main complex before returning to the river in the south. One leat runs between the buildings to the west and two run into a common subterranean chamber under the southern part of the building before splitting into two leats. They all appear to date from the C18 and show evidence of having been extended or altered over the life of the mill. The remains of a fifth leat were identified during archaeological investigation. It’s location suggests it would have passed under the now demolished mill buildings to the east and may have been associated with the earlier mill on the site.

Internally the leats pass through four surviving wheel pits located within the mill complex; two within the surviving buildings which would have served the rolling mill and two externally to its west which would have served two battery mills. Each would have powered an undershot wheel, however, only one wheel and the partial remains of a second survive. Both survivals would have been associated with the rolling mill. The one complete remaining wheel is thought to have been relocated in the C19 alterations by Butler and now drives the 1928 dynamo. The partial remains of another survives in the northernmost wheel pit. Neither of the two wheels associated with the battery mills survive, however the visible remains of the drive shaft on the external wall of the northern battery mill shows where one would have been located.

The surviving buildings on site include a battery mill, a rolling mill and an annealing shop. A further battery mill was located to the west of the site next to the road, however this has been demolished. To the east of the mill complex is a mid-C20 house that may possibly incorporate some earlier fabric associated with the mill. All buildings lost their machinery during Butler’s occupation, however from archaeological evidence it can be surmised that the battery mills would have had a set of hammers driven by the western water wheels. These would have been anchored on anvil block bases which would have been founded on large wooden piles driven into the ground. Archaeological investigation revealed the head of one of these piles in the northern mill building, providing evidence for the layout of the hammers. The location of the piles are now marked by red circles on the floor and a full size reconstruction of a single battery hammer is erected to help interpret this space. The rolling mill survives but its machinery does not. It would have comprised of two sets of rolls, one set of rolls would have been for ‘breaking in’ the metal and the second for ‘finishing’ to produce the fine surface on finishes materials.

The annealing workshop to the north, which would have originally contained two furnaces, is largely lost save for the partial remains of one furnace. It is known that a further furnace was located against the road to the south-west corner of the site, however this does not survive. One furnace remains intact in the northern building and has been restored. It is a muffle kiln, comprising of a freestanding muffle located within a firebox and two hearths, on either side of the muffle. The remains of its balance-beam support that would have aided the opening of the heavy furnace door remains and a bearing mount for a turntable to assist with the movement of materials remains in the floor in front of this furnace.

Approximately 80m to the south of the main mill complex is a further small, detached building made of lias stone with a slate roof probably of C18 date that contains a waterwheel used to power grinding stones that may have been used as a sharpening tool. It is powered off an additional leat which appears to have provided the water supply.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: for the most part the scheduling includes the historic boundary of the mill complex. To the north it takes in part of the leats along the line of the historic extent of ownership before they were extended in the C20. Including the leats provides clarity and legibility of the functioning of the site.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

BA 185

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Books and journals
Day, J, The Old Brass Mills, Saltford in BIAS Journal, Vol. 9, (1976), 20-23

Websites
Saltford Brass Mill Project Webpage, accessed September 2024 from https://brassmill.com/
Historic Environment Record for Saltford Brass Mill, accessed September 2024 from https://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/61230)

Other
Cranstone, D, Monuments Protection Programme Industrial Monuments Assessment, Step 3 Site Reports: The Brass Industry, Avon, Report, 1993
City of Hereford Archaeology Unit, Saltford Brass Battery Mill, Saltford, Avon: Second Interim Report, Hereford Archaeology Series 220, 1994.
T, Coverdale, The Saltford Brass Mill Project - A Decade of Industrial Archaeology.
P. Beazley, Saltford Brass Mill: A brief overview of current ownership, tenancy and latest thoughts on how the mill may have developed in the C18, 2023.

End of official list entry

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