GRAB IN THE NIGHT
HISTORY
There are pleasant walks along the steep wooded banks of the River Frome, for example to Oldbury Court. The park was purchased in 1926 by the Corporation of Bristol as “a pleasure walk for citizens of Bristol” and restored in the 1980s by the Fishponds Local History Society. The park’s name originates from one of the millers. His nickname was ‘Snuffy Jack’ because his smock was always covered in snuff. The park includes an old quarry and a stone mill. The old mill within the park was used for cutting and crushing stone from the many quarries along the Frome Valley during the late 19th century. It contains a waterwheel, and an egg-ended boiler in its setting and the remains  of a vertical steam engine.
Despite the name, tobacco snuff was never ground in this mill. Today, Snuff Mills is still a popular site for locals and visitors who come to enjoy the tranquillity and natural surroundings. This stretch of the River Frome is also home to some of Bristol’s otters. The Snuff Mill Park was purchased by the Bristol Corporation in 1926 for 1,000 guineas. At that time the portion of the mill building nearest the river Frome was still three storeys high. In the early 1930s, for reasons of public safety, the authorities collapsed the two upper floors of the ancient building into the lower storey and capped off the remains with tarmac and used it as a bandstand for Sunday afternoon concerts. About the same time, the mill house, stable, piggeries, wagon house and sheds’, all standing at right angles to the river Frome, were also demolished making way for the present ranger’s house which was built in 1936. Although the mill building is popularly known as “The Snuff Mill” no evidence has ever come to light to confirm that snuff was ground here. That distinction must surely rest with the mill, upstream “Witherly’s” (see Owen Ward BIAS Journal, 1969, “The Mills on the Bristol Frome”) where snuff was ground from around 1790. The mill was purchased by H.O.Wills in 1805 and ground snuff until 1843. It is from this mill that the legend of “Snuffy Jack” originates, the miller whose smock was always covered with snuff.
Chester Masters’ map of 1610 labels the mill under discussion as “Whitwood” and shows four other mills along the Stapleton Frome. From the Wessex Water Authority’s drawing, showing the location of the weir structures and their crest levels above Ordnance Datum it is possible to calculate the fall of water level from Frenchay to Lathbury Mill, Eastville Park as 25.46 m. or 823 ft. From Kings Mill to Lathbury the fall is 68 ft. 3 in. As the river is contained within a gorge it has cut for itself, the flow through the Stapleton valley is considerable and this may explain why none of the five mills needed mill ponds, each taking their water directly from the river above weirs. When the Bristol Avon River Authority kept records at Frenchay in 1975, their study showed the water flow varied from 200 cubic feet per second to over 2,000 cubic feet per second, all within a week. No doubt this variation reflects the relatively short length of the Frome, rising in the grounds of Doddington House and flowing to meet the Avon in Bristol some 19 miles away. The “Snuff Mill” or, more properly, Whitwood Mill is not mentioned in Domesday but documentary evidence indicates the presence of a mill on this site since 1297. A structure of this age has probably been rebuilt on many occasions with an “Engine Room” as a later addition. One can certainly find pieces of worn and broken millstones incorporated in existing walls. Over the years the mill has had many occupiers. The Stapleton Muster Roll of 1608, a list of able-bodied men available to the King in time of war, includes “John Whitewood, Miller, aged about 40, tall and a trained soldier. Iaacs Taylor’s map of 1777 refers to the mill as “Bridgemans”, while the Minute Book of the Kingswood Enclosure Commissioners (Stapleton Enclosure Act of 1779) states that one Samuel Punter of Whitchurch, Somerset, claimed “right of common” as owner of a messuage (house) water grist mill and about 11 acres of land, situated at Beach Hill, Stapleton, at that time in the tenure of Benjamin Bridgeman, at a yearly rent of £44. Benjamin’s will was proved in 1784 but his widow Martha and their son Joseph managed to hold on to the property until 1823, when Martha died.
Whitwood was purchased by Charles Hopkins for £1,250, whose milling career was to end in bankruptcy some 18 years later. 1841 saw the mill again advertised for sale, but it was not disposed of, to Thomas Jones, until 1846. Thomas Jones’s tenure was brief indeed for by 21 June 1846 his will was proved. The mill now passed into the hands of Josiah Bell who must have had the necessary qualities to run the mill competently for he was still occupier and eventual owner for some 41 years. A conveyance of 1866 refers to Josiah as a “Carpenter and Builder”. Perhaps he carried on both occupations, working in the building trade when the mill was quiet or the water level too low to turn the wheel. It was during Bell’s tenure that the 12 hp steam engine was installed in the mill to augment the water power. On 30 August 1879, J. Bell, Miller of Stapleton, was granted an outdoor beer licence at the mill house. Ownership of the Mill House Off Licence passed into the hands of the Ashton Gate Brewery Co. with John Dyke the local postman as tenant. By 1896 poor John Dyke had to get his licence transferred to Primrose Cottage, near the Frome bridge, because there were fears that sewage from the Infectious Diseases Hospital, situated on the high ground behind his beer house, would contaminate his well. In 1889 Josiah Bell put Whitwood Mill up for sale. Lot 3 of the auctioneer’s hand bill stated that the premises included “…the Ground Floor and Three Lofts, the upper loft being 52 ft. by 182 ft. There is also a capital Stable, Piggeries, Wagon House and Sheds. The Machinery comprises … a 12 Horse-Power Engine, a 12 Horse-Power Water Wheel, three Pairs of Stones, an Oat, Malt, and Bean Crusher, and a Dressing Mill”. The sale included the house, orchard, valuable building site and quarry comprising a frontage of 170 ft. to Snuff Mill Lane and notes that “…It is believed that valuable Pennant stone lies under Lots 2,4, and 5”. The mill was sold to Maberly Parker for £565, the price probably reflecting the dwindling use of water as a power source, with the steam providing a more convenient and controllable source of industrial power. Maberly Parker quarried Pennant stone from behind the mill building and several sites along the river towards Frenchay.
Chester Masters’ map of 1610 labels the mill under discussion as “Whitwood” and shows four other mills along the Stapleton Frome. From the Wessex Water Authority’s drawing, showing the location of the weir structures and their crest levels above Ordnance Datum it is possible to calculate the fall of water level from Frenchay to Lathbury Mill, Eastville Park as 25.46 m. or 823 ft. From Kings Mill to Lathbury the fall is 68 ft. 3 in. As the river is contained within a gorge it has cut for itself, the flow through the Stapleton valley is considerable and this may explain why none of the five mills needed mill ponds, each taking their water directly from the river above weirs. When the Bristol Avon River Authority kept records at Frenchay in 1975, their study showed the water flow varied from 200 cubic feet per second to over 2,000 cubic feet per second, all within a week. No doubt this variation reflects the relatively short length of the Frome, rising in the grounds of Doddington House and flowing to meet the Avon in Bristol some 19 miles away. The “Snuff Mill” or, more properly, Whitwood Mill is not mentioned in Domesday but documentary evidence indicates the presence of a mill on this site since 1297. A structure of this age has probably been rebuilt on many occasions with an “Engine Room” as a later addition. One can certainly find pieces of worn and broken millstones incorporated in existing walls. Over the years the mill has had many occupiers. The Stapleton Muster Roll of 1608, a list of able-bodied men available to the King in time of war, includes “John Whitewood, Miller, aged about 40, tall and a trained soldier. Iaacs Taylor’s map of 1777 refers to the mill as “Bridgemans”, while the Minute Book of the Kingswood Enclosure Commissioners (Stapleton Enclosure Act of 1779) states that one Samuel Punter of Whitchurch, Somerset, claimed “right of common” as owner of a messuage (house) water grist mill and about 11 acres of land, situated at Beach Hill, Stapleton, at that time in the tenure of Benjamin Bridgeman, at a yearly rent of £44. Benjamin’s will was proved in 1784 but his widow Martha and their son Joseph managed to hold on to the property until 1823, when Martha died.