Author Topic: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?  (Read 2870 times)

Offline Mowsehowse

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #9 on: Friday 17 February 17 15:34 GMT (UK) »
I've found mention of Ashburton Mill (Messrs Berry and Sons) which was still producing serge in 1891-2 at their premises in Ashburton and at Buckfastleigh, but there's no indication whether it was still operating into the 1930s. It's quite a distance from Paignton though.

A transcription of the Torquay Trade Directory for 1911-12, on Genuki, lists "Clothiers (Manufacturing) - Richards and Co., Ltd., 61 Union Street." They're separate from the listings for tailors and dressmakers so were they producing cloth, rather than making items of clothing? Hopefully, someone with local connections might know.

I very much doubt there was a mill in Union Street Torquay, and I would expect Clothiers Manufacturing was a place where cloth was cut and sewn into garments.
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Offline Geordie daughter

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #10 on: Friday 17 February 17 16:50 GMT (UK) »
Thanks so much for going to all that trouble for me, Mowsehowse. John Churchward and Sons sound like the most likely possibility and Totnes is certainly closer to Paignton than Buckfastleigh is. I'm really not sure why the Wrights would have moved to Paignton for work in the first place, unless it's because John was familiar with the area from when he was based at Plymouth with the Royal Marines c 1918, and was subsequently offered a job locally when he was demobbed in 1922.

Offline [Ray]

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #11 on: Saturday 18 February 17 10:15 GMT (UK) »

Just in case MowseHouse wants to save the bus fare


  http://www.rootschat.com/links/01jii/
then "streetview"
then left 5x down the avenue (with 2x cars)



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Offline Mowsehowse

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #12 on: Saturday 18 February 17 10:22 GMT (UK) »

Just in case MowseHouse wants to save the bus fare


  http://www.rootschat.com/links/01jii/
then "streetview"
then left 5x down the avenue (with 2x cars)

 ;D  Thanks Ray. 
[I shall be up there at least twice next week in daylight.]
BORCHARDT in Poland/Germany, BOSKOWITZ in Czechoslovakia, Hungary + Austria, BUSS in Baden, Germany + Switzerland, FEKETE in Hungary + Austria, GOTTHILF in Hammerstein + Berlin, GUBLER, GYSI, LABHARDT & RYCHNER in Switzerland, KONIG & KRONER in Germany, PLACZEK, WUNSCH & SILBERBERG in Poland.

Also: ROWSE in Brixham, Tenby, Hull & Ramsgate. Strongman, in Falmouth. Champion. Coke. Eame/s. Gibbons. Passmore. Pulsever. Sparkes in Brixham & Ramsgate. Toms in Cornwall. Waymoth. Wyatt.


Offline Geordie daughter

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #13 on: Saturday 18 February 17 16:01 GMT (UK) »
Churchward's definitely appear to be the most likely employers now. I have discovered that their woollen mill at Harbertonford was still operating until as late as 1956, although I haven't yet been able to find out anything about their other premises. Apparently, the company was making blankets and serge to be dyed blue for the Royal Navy which would tie in nicely with my thought that perhaps John's Royal Marine service had something to do with him getting the job. John would have been in his mid-fifties when the Harbertonford mill closed down and I know that he and his wife were back in Leeds by the time of their deaths in the 1970s.

Offline KGarrad

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #14 on: Saturday 18 February 17 16:24 GMT (UK) »
If you have access to FindMyPast (local library, perhaps?) there are a number of newspaper entries for John Churchward & Sons?

I did a google search using "John Churchward & Sons" Devon (remember to include the quotation marks).

But you may need a sub to see the pages?
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Offline Mowsehowse

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #15 on: Saturday 18 February 17 16:49 GMT (UK) »
Just to say, I have checked out the Kelly's for 1935 & 1939, but John Wright does not appear in the residential (nor commercial).

I did find a Blanket Manufacturer "John BERRY & Sons Ltd. Ashburton, Newton Abbot & Buckfast Mills, Buckfastleigh."  So that is also an option, but Totnes would be the closest proximity to Paignton, so I probably still favour Curchwards until offered somewhere even closer.
BORCHARDT in Poland/Germany, BOSKOWITZ in Czechoslovakia, Hungary + Austria, BUSS in Baden, Germany + Switzerland, FEKETE in Hungary + Austria, GOTTHILF in Hammerstein + Berlin, GUBLER, GYSI, LABHARDT & RYCHNER in Switzerland, KONIG & KRONER in Germany, PLACZEK, WUNSCH & SILBERBERG in Poland.

Also: ROWSE in Brixham, Tenby, Hull & Ramsgate. Strongman, in Falmouth. Champion. Coke. Eame/s. Gibbons. Passmore. Pulsever. Sparkes in Brixham & Ramsgate. Toms in Cornwall. Waymoth. Wyatt.

Offline Geordie daughter

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #16 on: Saturday 18 February 17 21:23 GMT (UK) »
KGarrad:
I got completely sidetracked onto another of my husband's lines this afternoon because of a comment on another thread of mine elsewhere on the forum, and didn't even think to go look through the newspapers via FindMyPast, so thank you for mentioning it! I do have a sub with them, fortunately, so that's not a problem.

Mowsehowse:
Thank you so much for checking those directories for me - John Wright being listed in them was a long shot anyway, but at least you've been able to confirm that John Berry and Sons were also still operating in that time frame. I'll do searches for both firms in the newspapers and see what comes up.


Offline Mowsehowse

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Re: Woollen Mills in Paignton area?
« Reply #17 on: Monday 20 February 17 12:56 GMT (UK) »

Just in case MowseHouse wants to save the bus fare:

  http://www.rootschat.com/links/01jii/
then "streetview"
then left 5x down the avenue (with 2x cars)

 ;D  Thanks Ray.  [I shall be up there at least twice next week in daylight.]

Well I was in Barton Avenue earlier today so I decided to seek out number 95, which looks like a fairly standard bungalow, but what "streetview" doesn't show is the fact of glorious sea views over Torbay from the back gardens on that side of the road. :)
BORCHARDT in Poland/Germany, BOSKOWITZ in Czechoslovakia, Hungary + Austria, BUSS in Baden, Germany + Switzerland, FEKETE in Hungary + Austria, GOTTHILF in Hammerstein + Berlin, GUBLER, GYSI, LABHARDT & RYCHNER in Switzerland, KONIG & KRONER in Germany, PLACZEK, WUNSCH & SILBERBERG in Poland.

Also: ROWSE in Brixham, Tenby, Hull & Ramsgate. Strongman, in Falmouth. Champion. Coke. Eame/s. Gibbons. Passmore. Pulsever. Sparkes in Brixham & Ramsgate. Toms in Cornwall. Waymoth. Wyatt.