The Fascinating History of Audley’s New Mill Offices

New Mill by T. Langford (1830) and the current building.

Our picturesque offices in New Mill are home to nearly 200 staff and attract many visiting clients each year but few, if any, will know of the intriguing history behind the building – from the death of a worker in the waterwheel in the 19th century, to a series of devastating fires.

New Mill as it is today (click to enlarge).

Early history
Despite its name New Mill is actually one of the oldest mill sites in Witney. A document of 1661 refers to a fulling mill “commonly called New Mill in the Tything of Hayley”, although a mill was present on this site for a long time before this; one is recorded as existing here in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The reason a wool mill was located here - and why Witney eventually became world famous for blanket making - was due to two simple reasons: good breeding and grazing for sheep and the fast flowing Windrush River for water power.

Life in the mill
As you can perhaps imagine working in a wool mill during the early 19th century could be both arduous and dangerous.

You could expect to work a minimum of six days a week from 6.00am to 6.00pm, with a two hour break. Moreover, as there was no welfare state then people would often carry on working well past today’s expected retirement age for both men and women - assuming they lived that long! 

Wool spinning in progress (click to enlarge).

It was also an era when children worked as there were no laws governing the age of workers or the hours that they worked. From the owners’ point of view children were cheap to employ but they were also small and nimble and therefore good for cleaning or tying broken threads.

Just as today there were good and bad employers and in 1838 the Assistant Hand-loom Weavers’ Commissioners came to Witney to investigate the conditions of the local weavers as part of a national government enquiry. They found that the Witney mill employers were much more interested in the “moral and domestic conditions’” of their workers than in most weaving communities.

Even so, working in somewhere like New Mill nearly two centuries ago must have been dangerous, repetitive and tiring work. It is very hard to comprehend by today’s standards just how hard peoples lives were back then.

Clearly visible, the wooden supports inside the building today (click to enlarge).

Fire!
The building standing today still has the original stone-built walls but the floors and roof supports are all made of wood. Indeed, it is a very nice place to work today.

However, this was also the case back in the days when the mill processed wool which created an ever-present fire hazard, especially as the mill relied on candles for lighting.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, the building suffered a series damaging fires during its history, taking place in 1783, 1809, 1818 and 1883.

Thankfully, today, our combination of modern fire warning systems, sprinklers and prompt emergency services should prevent a catastrophic fire like those suffered in the past. Plus we don’t use candles anymore.

Tragedy at New Mill

The glass atrium today, under which the old waterwheel was once located (click to enlarge).

In the heart of the current building we have a very nice glass-fronted atrium, underneath which still runs the river Windrush.

It was here that the original waterwheel was located and which powered the cloth-fulling machinery. In fact, it is about 20 feet from where I am typing this. 

Unfortunately, for Edmund Wright, it was here at the beginning of the 19th century that he fell in water and was crushed by the waterwheel, much to the delight of the local hand spinners apparently (they clearly didn’t like him very much!).

His ghost, as well as others is said to haunt New Mill, although no Audley staff have evey witnessed it to my knowledge… so far at least.

The present day
New Mill remained in use until the 1950s when the spinning operations here were transferred to a new department in the nearby Witney Mill.

Audley staff enjoying a lunchtime in summer at New Mill (click to enlarge).

In the 1960′s New Mill fell into disuse and was eventually sold.

Since that time it has been used by a succession of small businesses until 2006, when Audley moved from nearby Stratton Audley (hence our name), to become the latest occupier of the site.

Now, these fine and historic buildings, situated amongst some beautiful surrounding scenery, is our home and very glad we are too. 

Footnote…
With the advent of the modern duvet and central heating, sadly the industry which had lasted for centuries here in Witney, came to an end in 2002 when Early’s - the last firm to make genuine Witney Blankets - closed its doors.

Further information

• If you wish to discuss your travel plans with Audley in person we will also be happy to give you a personal tour of New Mill. Simply go to the visiting us section of our website .
• For more information about New Mill as well as a detailed history of blanket making in Witney, visit the very informative Witney Blanket Story website.