Denis Marshall Pickles
Norfolk
Monday, October 28, 2013 07:44 |
The Ellers
I derived a great deal of pleasure from looking at the photos of houses in the Ellers recently placed on the Gallery page. On one of them, I can actually make out all three houses where I lived when a boy in Sutton! But I cannot help wondering why the houses in the Ellers should have been built there in the first place. On a hill side accessed by probably the steepest road in the area! Surely there must have been far more suitable sites on which to build. Perhaps this was a case of the land in the Ellers being the only land available at the time. Anyone got any ideas? |
Robin Longbottom
Oakworth
Monday, October 28, 2013 10:51 |
Glad you found the photos interesting Denis. I've had a quick dig into my 'archive' and see that in 1840 the properties in Ellers fell into three separate ownerships, suggesting that it was very much a piecemeal development. Where Cryer Row is at the top there was a group of 8 dwellings, perhaps back to back, and all owned by one Joseph Smith and occupied by his tenants. This may well have been a speculative development to provide homes for workers at High Mill in the Clough, the access road was from just above Ellers. The cottages were demolished later in the century and replaced by the present ones.
There were 4 dwellings in Jackson Place and a 'shop'. Presumably the 'shop' was the weaving room on the 2nd floor of the building known as the Dolphin 'Oyle. These properties were owned by but not occupied by one Nathan Sharp. The weaving shop probably housed dobby looms, which were hand operated until about 1860. Again it appears that this was a speculative development.
The third property was a house and stable with a paddock and croft attached. This stood across the other side of the road and was owned by Joseph Heaton of Sutton House. The property was demolished about 1900 by John Willie Hartley when he built Sutton Hall. It is likely that this was the oldest property in Ellers and that it pre-dated the Industrial Revolution.
Later in the 19th century two more rows of back to back houses were built - Dolphin Row backing onto Ethel Street topside and Park Row backing onto Ethel Street lowside.
Hope this is of interest. |
Denis Marshall Pickles
Norfolk
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 12:00 |
"Hope this is of interest!" It certainly is. You seem to be the fount of all knowledge as far as the history of Sutton is concerned. Perhaps you could enlighten me further. Just where is the site of the High Mill? You say that the access to the mill was just above the Ellers. Do you mean the lane which now gives access to Wood Vale Farm or has the old High Mill access road long since gone? The only relics of industrial use in the Clough that I can recall was the remnants of a derelict mill dam and I always thought that would have been associated with the smelting works. Was the High Mill built lower down the Clough - closer to the village? |
Paul Wilkinson
webmaster
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 13:05 |
Hi Denis
The location of High Mill can be seen on this map from 1850.
When it loads, click on it to zoon in, High Mill is in the lower right corner. |
Robin Longbottom
Oakworth
Wednesday, October 30, 2013 07:39 |
Little remains of the High Mill today, also known as the Clough Mill. It was demolished by John Willie Hartley when he built the Hall. If you walk up Hall Way and cross Dog Bridge (now a narrow footbridge) and carry on up passed the second baluster bridge, that lead to the Hall, the mill was just above there, before the land widens out into what was the lower, very shallow, dam. There is a large, unnatural, bank on the left which is probably made up of the rubble from the demolished mill. The main dam was above the lower dam, the large dam side was cut through to make the footpath after Turners gave this part of the Clough to the village. Beyond the main dam traces of the goit can still be seen together with the stones that held the sluice gate. Stanley Matthews and I put one of the sluice gate stones back in position in the 1970's after it had been washed over in a flood. Remains of the weir across the stream can also be made, or could be in the 70's.
An advertisement for its sale in 1817 described it as worsted mill, three storeys high, 16 and a half yards long and nine yards wide, with a powerful water wheel, tumbling shaft etc. The mill was part of Brow Bottom Farm and was built by the Driver Heaton family of Stubbing Hill. Peter Hartley tenanted it before moving to Greenroyd Mill, he was the grandfather of John Willie Hartley.
The Smelt Mill was some distance above the top Iron Bridge, beyond the fork in the beck. The dam there was little more than a pond, but can still be made out. |
Richard Barrett
Sutton
Sunday, February 16, 2014 13:13 |
Whilst in Ellers Road can anyone tell me how old Gott Hill Farm is as the deeds only go back to when the Sutton Hall Estate was broken up.thanks Richard Barrett. |
Paul Wilkinson
webmaster
Sunday, February 16, 2014 18:29 |
The buildings at Gott Hill are shown on the 1853 OS map.
|
Robin Longbottom
Oakworth
Monday, February 17, 2014 10:44 |
Hi Richard, I may have some information on the farm. I'll see what I can dig out. It appears to take it's name from a family called Gott who once lived there. It is associated with a croft and therefore there may have been a dwelling on the site since the Tudor period. Robin |
