Held at:

Herefordshire Record Office

Reference:

J91/1-4

Source:

Original documents

Title:

Michaelchurch Mill [extracts from various documents]

Place name:

Michaelchurch Escley

Date:

1702-1706

Description:

Leaseholders in the parish of Michaelchurch Eskley: “Edward Perkins, leaseholder from Richard Crofts (gent.) of land then in the occupation of Walter Pikes, previously in the occupation of William James, 99 years at 10 shillings per annum, seventy acres with one watermill now grown to decay.”

Observations:

This probably refers to a mill of which a few remnants can still be found at Pikes Farm, rather than Little Mill or Michaelchurch Mill because of the reference to the mill ‘now grown to decay’. Little Mill is still shown on Bryant’s map of 1835, and the Michaelchurch Parish registers refer to the baptism on 29th October 1831 of Mary, daughter of Thomas & Elianor Jones, Miller at Little Mill, implying that this mill was still working at that date. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest Michaelchurch Mill ever suffered such a decline; Michaelchurch Parish records show David Harris of Michaelchurch (Miller) buried 27th October 1726 implying this mill was working at that time, and subsequent records of millers there imply continuous use through to modern times. It is probably also more than coincidence that the occupier of the land referred to c. 1706 was Walter Pikes. This could be the source of the name of the modern day ‘Pikes Farm’, and the remains of the old mill there are therefore likely to be those referred to in the Rental manuscript.

Extracts taken from:

Ewyas Lacey Manor Court Books J91/1-4

Michaelchurch Eskley Parish Records


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Ref: rs_mic_0106