Facilities
The Building
The site of Saltford mill has almost certainly existed
since the time of the Domesday record when two watermills were listed in
Saltford. At that time they would have been corn mills housed in simple
wooden structures of which nothing is known. In later centuries fulling, the
thickening process of hand-woven woollen cloth was carried out in buildings
which would have been far more substantial. Fulling ceased in the late 1600s
with the bankruptcy of the owner, but the present building may well contain
fragments of that earlier structure. The brass company is known to be in
occupation from 1721 and from then many additions and alterations must have
taken place. Little is known of these apart from the extent of the building
which in an early 1900s photograph stretched as far as the present roadside
in which then included a battery mill with three hammers which were working
until 1908. An additional roadside annealing furnace was probably demolished
at that time. The timber beams and pantiled roof are thought to survive from
the early brassmaking period, having been subjected in recent years to
extensive repairs carried out by English Heritage.
Examples of products made
The main products of the local brass industry in the
Avon Valley consisted of all types of hollow-ware vessels, from large vats
to small bowls. Several special designs were produced, such as rimmed milk
pans of up to 4ft diameter mainly for the Welsh dairy farmers, Guinea
kettles for the varied African trade also sold to the north American
continent for the fur traders, Lisbon pans thought to be for the sugar
industry, shallow Neptune pans for drying tea or salt evaporation. Many of
these were made specifically for export through the Port of Bristol, mainly
to countries which became part of the British Empire. Apart from these
finished products, various sizes and thicknesses of brass sheet and plate
were produced, for all kinds of industrial purposes. In the early nineteenth
century the musical instrument firm of Boosey were purchasing sheet or plate
brass from Saltford for their products. Wire of various gauges was made at
Keynsham's Avon Mill and sold extensively, especially to the local
pin-making works. Some of the strip for wire-making was rolled at Saltford.
Ingot brass br was sold to craftsmen for their own special requirements, to
make such items as candelabra, emblems for the friendly societies and
various kinds of domestic requirements.
Working Water Wheel
In a Sales Catalogue of 1865 four waterwheels of 15ft
diameter were listed at Saltford Mill which would have been mainly of wooden
construction but in addition an iron wheel was also included which had not
been listed in a surveyor's report some ten years previously. This
comparatively new wheel of that time must be the one of 18ft 11 in diameter
that survives, still in a workable condition at Saltford thanks to a
considerable maintenance programme, carried out by our volunteers during
2003-4. After the brass mill closed in 1925 the wheel was adapted with a
chain drive to operate an electric dynamo which provided a lighting system
to the newly installed leisure facilities in the building. Later, the system
was used to power a saw bench for boat building and maintenance.
Exhibition
We display a large number of historic photographs of
the mill and its techniques, some donated by families of former workers at
the mill but most were taken by keen photographer A.C.V. Davies, the manager
and son of the last owner of the brass-making business, A.T. Davies. This
collection survived having been saved by a family friend, Miss Rosemary
Hatherley. We are also very fortunate in being able to show a collection of
brass pans made at Saltford and/or Keynsham Mill from donations from
descendants of the workers who made them They were allowed to buy brass
sheet at favourable prices to make up goods for their own homes, so these
products are not necessarily examples of the normal productions lines made
for the commercial markets. We also display samples of raw materials of
brassmaking, ores of copper and zinc, a crucible in which they would have
been alloyed and illustrations of the early methods used. Most important is
the surviving annealing furnace, almost complete and currently being
partially repaired (with consent from English Heritage) to make its function
more easily explainable. This furnace, one of four originally in use at
Saltford, was an important local introduction which enabled worked goods to
be heated with coal in bulk rather than singly over a charcoal hearth.
Annealing returned the brass to a malleable or workable condition when
subjected to extensive manipulation, which otherwise would have caused
cracking.
1920s Dynamo
In 1928 when the production of brass ceased at
Saltford the premises were bought by Eric Wakefield Butler, of William
Butler and Company, tar distillers. He was a Freeman of the City of London,
Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights and Special Commissioner
for the Inland Revenue, Keynsham and Saltford Division.
Eric Butler was a sportsman who fished, piloted his
own light aeroplane and played tennis and squash rackets. At Saltford he
converted an area into a squash court and for this use he installed electric
light.
Those parts of the mill converted to leisure
activities after 1928 had concrete floors and in the small area near the
main entrance he provided a concrete plinth (above flood level) for an
Ediswan dynamo from which a cable was laid underfloor to a switchboard.
At the time electric lighting was provided on a direct
current (DC) system and the dynamo, which is DC equipment, bears a brass
plate with the inscriptions: 210 volts; 54 amps; 1450 rpm., and maker's
serial number 26595. As there was no television requiring a strictly
regulated power supply, and wireless was mostly run off dry batteries and
accumulators and there was no particular requirement for a constant supply.
This was just as well for the provision of a 210 volt supply depending on
the dynamo rotor being turned at 1450 rpm by the waterwheel was not easy. A
system of chainwheels and belt pulleys was installed.
A chainwheel fixed to the waterwheel resulted in the
dynamo being turned at 1450 rpm, providing the the waterwheel revolved at
just over 9 revolution per minute. This is quite feasible as a possible
speed for a large waterwheel such as the Saltford example. A small increase
in the waterwheel speed, however to, say 10 rpm would have resulted on the
dynamo rotating at 1550 rpm almost certainly 'blowing' electric light lamps.
The switchboard was provided with a volt meter, an amp-meter and a voltage
control unit. If this equipment was monitored carefully at times of fast
high river levels all would have been well.
In 1956 the mill was sold to Mr &' Mrs Sheppard who
operated as Bristol Boats Ltd, building catamarans and probably to assist
with cutting timber for these boats a saw bench was installed adjacent to
the dynamo using three additional pulley wheels and a ‘belt shifter’ up to
9ft long pieces of timber by a circular saw revolving at about 1600 rpm.
Brass Rubbing
Brass plate purchased from the mill is known to have
been used for memorial slabs, particularly for war memorials after World War
One. Apart from providing these raw materials, Saltford Mill has no direct
connection with brass rubbing, however, this particular activity provides an
interest for children visiting the mill with their parents and we are happy
to encourage them in addition to supplying quiz sheets which can be answered
by reading labels from our extensive illustrations displayed around the
mill.
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