About the Saltford Brassmill History
Abraham Darby started making brass at Baptist Mills on the Frome in Bristol (near the start of the M32) in 1702. Brassmaking was much later transferred to Keynsham's Avon Mill, because of its better water supply. River transport was used to deliver brass ingots and coal up to Saltford; Weston Mill, Bath and other mills of the company. The earliest main process involved the shaping of brass sheet into hollow-ware vessels, such as pans, bowls, and vats. Large water-powered hammers were used originally, to beat the brass ingots into sheet, and then faster hammers shaped the sheet into hollow-ware. This beating process was known as 'battery', so Saltford Mill was known as a brass battery mill. Rolling mills (pairs of heavy rolls working like an old fashioned mangle) were soon introduced by the company, which produced brass sheets more evenly than hammers. Saltford Mill also became a rolling mill but hammers continued to be used for the production of hollow-ware. The brass was malleable enough to be worked cold, but rolling and hammering could continue only for a limited period as the brass would 'work-harden', causing cracking. To prevent this, partially worked brass was periodically softened by heating, or 'annealing' it. When this work originally started, individual pieces were heated over charcoal. Soon the Bristol industry devised bulk annealing in large furnaces heated with local coal. The brass goods were protected from damaging coal fumes by an inner sealed arch, introducing a new type of large-scale `muffle' furnace. The remaining Saltford annealing furnace, one of four once working at the mill, is the best surviving example of this important local innovation. The only other examples are at Kelston Mills, where only the outer walls remain. Skilled immigrant craftsmen came from traditional brass making areas of the Continent bringing their valuable expertise. The skills of these men partly account for the growing success of the industry throughout the eighteenth century. Many of their descendants stayed at the local mills and several of their families continue to live in the Avon Valley today, with names such as Buck, Crinks, Craymer, Fray, Frankham, Ollis, Racker and Steger. Brass in the Avon Valley was made originally from refined copper produced from Cornish ores, smelted at Crews' Hole or Conham. This copper was alloyed with crushed 'calamine', the zinc carbonate ore mined on Mendip. This area became the largest brass producing centre in the country during the eighteenth century. By the nineteenth century local copper smelting had ceased, and had been replaced by- copper from Swansea. from mid-century it was being alloyed with zinc metal instead of calamine ore, made possible by new techniques introduced by William Champion at Warmley in the previous century. The newer Birmingham brass works adopted many more modern methods in the early nineteenth century, which the local company ignored and so lost its complete supremacy in the trade. Many of their mills closed but the old Saltford battery hammers continued working until 1908, the last in this country. Their rolling mills, still powered by waterwheels, kept working until 1925. Keynsham's Avon Mill finally closed in 1928, bringing local brass making to an end. Joan Day Location
Saltford Brassmill can be found in the village of Saltford, situated on the A4 between Bath and Bristol. Visitors are requested to use the Shallows Public Car Park in the vicinity of the mill. The island on which the mill is built is a private marina and its surroundings are not open to the public. Public Transport Several bus services run through the village, either from Bath or Bristol. We suggest you catch the X39. Alight at the Crown Pub and walk down Beech Road and the High Street, turning right at the Shallows. Bike Saltford is a stop on the Bristol to Bath cycle path (see the Sustrans website for more details). Leave the track at the Bird in Hand pub. Climb a short, steep hill then 1st left into the Shallows (watch out for cars on the corner). |
Saltford
Brass Mill was one of a series of mills working in brass in the Avon Valley
during the eighteenth century. Many of these mills, as at Saltford, employed
waterwheels to power processes used by the company.