Saltford Brass Mill Project
Copyright (C) 2010 Saltford Brass Mill Project. All Rights Reserved
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. 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.
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.
History of Saltford Brass Mill
Joan Day
Author: Bristol Brass: The History of the Industry
Author: Bristol Brass: The History of the Industry
Brass Mill History
Joan Day has conducted extensive research into the Bristol Brass Industry and published a number of papers on the subject in the 1960s,
70s and 80s. Those papers still constitute the basis of our understanding of the industry, copies of which can be downloaded
by clicking on the icons below.
Published Papers
Bristol Brass Company
The history of Saltford Brass Mill is inextricably linked with the fortunes of the Bristol Brass Company,
the key events in it history being summarized in the timelines below:
Tony Coverdale has built upon Joan Day's research and continues to explore the history of the Bristol Brass Industry. A name
which appears a number of times in contemporary records, but is little known today, is John Padmore, who was active between the
1690s and 1730s. In his will, Padmore describes himself as a millwright and shareholder in the Bristol Brass Company. Records
show that he was engaged in a diverse range of projects, including the construction of:
Today we would describe John Padmore as an engineer,
we should therefore consider Padmore as an engineer in the age of enlightenment. In 2016, Tony published a paper on John Padmore in
the Journal of the Bristol Industrial Archaeology Society, a link to which is below.
Warmley Company
The Warmley company operated from 1746 to 1768. The company was founded by Nehemiah and William Champion,
formerly of the Bristol Brass Company, and for 20 years was a rival to the Bristol Company. A survey of the archaeological
remains at Warmley was carried out in 1995 a copy of which can be downloaded below:
John Padmore: Eighteenth Century Engineer and Polymath
Stephen Hawkins conducted research into calamine extraction on Mendip as part of a Maters Degree in Landscape Archaeology at the University
of Bristol. His dissertation, published in 2003, is at the link below.
Bristol Copper and Brass
Calamine Mining on Mendip