HOLT MILL, Holt

This mill was located on Shrawley Brook, upstream of Hollingshead Mill. It is probably one in the same as the mill mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

From 1741 to 1760 Mrs. Mary Severn held the mill, but does not appear to have been farming the associated land. By October 1761 Gabriel Goodwin, Hallow born son of Gabriel and Ann Goodwin, and his wife Mary were working the mill. At that time Gabriel's wife signed an indenture clarifying a bequest she received from her mother, and shared with her brother, Thomas Mates or Miotes. The bequest concerned a 90-year lease on a cottage situated on the heath at Holt. Gabriel is not listed in the View of Frankpledge, but does appear on the list of inhabitants of Holt who owed 'Suit and Services' to the Court Lord and Court Bar, Thomas Foley Esq. Both lists were compiled on the 24th October 1775. Gabriel and Mary had thirteen children baptised in Holt between 1747 and 1770.Their eldest son was William, born in 1749. Following Mary's death Gabriel married Ann Hill and fathered five more children, all baptised in Great Witley, Ann's home parish. Ganbriel Goodwin died in Holt in 1796, about ten years after handing the milling business to his son William.

In the earliest surviving land tax assessment, dated March 1787, William Goodwin held the mill. The taxes due were £1/2/- and 6/10, presumably for the mill and land respectively. In following assessments only one amount, being the sum of the two aforementioned, was given. This annual tax remained unchanged until at least 1824. A newly erected overshot water gristmill with three pairs of stones on three floors was described in the 'rent book' of 1793. There were also a substantial stable and an old timber and tile house, in a state of disrepair, a timber and thatch cottage adjoining the turnpike, road and 18 acres of land. With the exception of the cottage the whole was let to Goodwin for £35 per annum, an increase of £5 on the preceding year. From Easter 1805 to Easter 1806 William acted as Overseer of the Poor in the parish. This was an honorary parochial post that involved monitoring the collection of the poor rate and it's distribution to the needy of the parish.

William's wife was Elizabeth Holloway, or Betty, as she was usually known. She bore six children in Holt; Esther in 1782; Thomas, 1783/4, William, 1787; John, 1791; Samuel, 1793 and Ann in 1797. In 1805 William served as overseer of the poor. William Goodwin (Goodwyn in the parish register) died in 1817 at the stated age of 65. In fact he must have been at least two years older than that if his baptism has been correctly identified in the parish register. He was buried at Holt on 26th January. He held the mill until his death when his third son, John, took over the tenancy.

Two years after his fathers' death John married Sarah Wagstaff in Kidderminster. The date was 9th February 1819. The couple had fifteen children, namely; John Wagstaff, in 1820; Daniel Wagstaff, 1821; Mary Hill, 1822; Ann (e) Sarah, 1823; Thomas Hill, 1824; Samuel, 1826; Ellen, 1827; Eliza, 1830; Harriet, 1831; George, 1833; Frederick, 1834; Hannah, 1836; Caroline, 1839; Sarah, 1840 and Alfred, 1841. The first eleven were born in Holt, the last four in Worcester. Hannah and Alfred died in infancy.

An account book belonging to Richard Delahay of South Wood Farm, Shelsley Beauchamp, contains a long list of transactions dated 1824 to 1832 between Delahay and John Goodwin. As one would expect the former was purchasing wheat and occasional beans from the latter. Wheat prices varied between 6/4 and 10/- per bushel (1 bushel = 8 gallons by volume). Beans were 4/10 per bushel. Intriguingly at the same time as Delahay was purchasing goods from John Goodwin he was also dealing with John Burrows, of Holt Mill(!). These were the usual wheat and beans, but also included 20 gallons of cider in December 1830. There are no records of John Burrows actually operating Holt Mill so perhaps he managed it in periods of Goodwin’s absence.

Samuel Goodwin of Rowe Farm in the 1820's was John's younger brother. He later moved to the Three Tuns on Holt Heath. Samuel too was a miller by the 1840's, operating Hollingshead Mill .

The will of Samuel Crofts, of Holt, written in 1835 names John as executor. When Crofts died in 1841 John had the will proved and received a legacy of £50 from it. In that same year he and his oldest son, John Wagstaff, received £10 each from the will of Henry Chellingworth of Holt Castle, as did several other Holt farmers. In 1847 Benjamin Ford acted as Overseer of the Poor in Holt on behalf of John.

Like the farmers of the parish, John Goodwin took his turn as overseer of the poor in 1818, 1826 and 1835, and  churchwarden in 1827, 1832, 1834, 1835 and 1838. He was an active member of the church, having a particular role in the running of the choir. During 1838 John moved to Little Angel Street off Angel Place in Worcester, from where he could better manage his expanding milling business. He established a distribution warehouse in Angel Place and the 'City Flour Mills' on Padmore Street in Lowesmoor. Throughout his time in Worcester John claimed a place on the Holt electoral register in addition to one in Worcester!

John Goodwin was very well thought of in the city. He became a councillor, alderman, High Sheriff, justice of the peace and twice was mayor. The Royal Worcester Porcelain Works presented him with a unique commemorative cup. In 1855 he was invited to London to represent the city in celebrations hosted by Queen Victoria on the advent of the ending of the Crimean War.

In addition to Holt Mill and the City Mill, John acquired mills in Pershore and Dodderhills, Droitwich. His son Samuel (b.1826) managed the Pershore Mill for 12 years from about 1844. In 1856, following a marriage that was frowned upon by his family, Samuel immigrated to Chicago, Illinois, intending to enter the grain business. Things didn't work out quite as he planned, but after taking-up farming he eventually prospered. Samuel's sister, Mary Hill (b.1822), and her husband and young family followed Samuel to Illinois. Mary's family travelled throughout the United States, spending time in Wyoming, Colorado and Wisconsin. The New World also attracted another of the Goodwin children, namely Thomas Hill (b.1824) who left for Australia, arriving September 1852. On 13 Sept 1854 Thomas Hill set out, with John Bulmer, to investigate possible sites for a mission to help the Aborigines who were already suffering from the intrusion of whites into their lands. The pair left Melbourne with a dray, two horses and supplies for three months. On returning to Melbourne on 14 Dec 1854 Thomas Hill recommended Yelta, in Victoria as the site for the mission. Early in 1855 the Government of New South Wales (which still included Victoria at that time) gave a square mile (640 acres or 256 hectares) at Yelta on which to establish a mission. Handmade bricks were used to build a dwelling house, store-room and a school-room. Thomas Hill learned the language of the first Aborginal tribe he met. He also had an extensive ministry with the surrounding settlers, and was especially welcomed at shearing time, when the itinerant teams of shearers were pleased to have the services of the missioner. His first wife died ten months after arriving in Australia, but he later re-married, and raised a family.

George (b.1833) was to be the last Goodwin miller, followed Samuel into Holt Mill. After inheriting the bulk of his fathers business and rebuilding the City Mill in 1865, he suffered prolonged ill health, which forced him to sell the company in 1888. He retired to the Mill House at Pershore. George’s brother Frederick who inherited it from their father managed the Droitwich mill.

Holt Mill had land attached during most of the nineteenth century. In 1820 John was described as a farmer and at the time of the 1839 tithe assessment he held 25 acres as well as the mill. Of this 25 acres, less than five acres were arable, the rest being grazing pasture, most probably for sheep. £1/8s/10d Land Tax was paid each year until 1825 when it increased by 10s. For one year only, 1825, John Goodwin held Rowley Farm for which he paid Land Tax of £5/1s/6d.

Despite living in Worcester City, from 1843 until 1859 John Goodwin was entered on the electoral register of Holt, his qualification to vote being the holding of the mill there.

When he moved to Worcester John Goodwin left his seventeen years old second son, Daniel in charge of the mill at Holt. Daniel worked it with the help of Thomas Farmer, and two house servants, James Hatfield and Mary Dipper. James was probably the youngest son of James and Ann Hatfield of neighbouring Hollingshead Mill. An aged couple, namely William and Mary Farmer, also lived with the Hatfield's were probably the parents of the aforementioned Thomas. Daniel moved to Kidderminster in 1844 where he started his own milling business, D. W. Goodwin & Co. and became prominent in civil affairs.

On 24th July 1845 Daniel married, in Little Witley, a girl he met whilst still living in Holt, Mary Ann Burrow. Mary Ann was the eldest child of Edward and Sarah Burrow of Well Farm in Little Witley. She was not baptised in Little Witley, but may have been baptised in her mothers home parish of Ombersley, or been born before her mother and father moved to the area. Daniel and his bride returned to his home in Kidderminster. They had seven children. A daughter married James Harvey, a member of the Bristol sherry firm; a son took over of his dead fathers milling business and another son became a director of one of the Kidderminster carpet factories.

When Daniel left Holt, James Morris of Abberley took the mill. Morris was a journeyman miller, indicating that he was in the employ of someone else. This would have been Daniel's father, John, who 'owned' the mill until his death in 1864. In 1851 Morris was living at the mill with his wife, Sarah, who was from Rochford in Herefordshire. They had two children by that time, Louisa and James, both born in Holt. Their house servant, Harriet May was from the same area as Sarah. James Morris probably started milling only a short time before 1851 for he was not described as a miller in the baptism record of 1846 or 1847.

The Overseer of the Poor appointed in 1855 was George Goodwin, presumably John's son who may have occupied the mill at that time. In 1861 John Wagstaff Goodwin, returned to the mill. His wife, Louisa, was from Cheltenham, and his son, William H. Goodwin, one of five children, was born in Birmingham fourteen years before. John is known to have left Holt for Birmingham before his younger brother Daniel took over the mill in 1838. John Wagstaff employed two servants, an assistant in the mill, John  Kerr from West Point in Ireland and a house servant, Sarah Jones from Great Witley.

John Goodwin (Sen.) wrote his final Will in November 1861 just over two years before his death on 20th January 1864. By 1861 he was living as a gentleman in his Angel Place residence. He bequeathed the Pershore and Droitwich mills to their managers, his son's George and Frederick respectively. Neither John Wagstaff nor Daniel was mentioned by name in his will. His total estate amounted to nearly £14,000. Frederick may have managed Holt Mill until his father’s tenancy expired, for in the Easter of 1864 he was appointed as Overseer of the Poor in the parish.

Following the demise of John Goodwin the mill had many short-term occupants and tenants. The land was split off and farmed from neighbouring Hollingshead Farm and labourers occupied the mill. Milling did continue but apparently as a secondary occupation of farmers within the parish. From at least 1871 James Hammond was the miller, and four years later served as Overseer of the Poor in that capacity. He lived with his two brothers at his father’s farm, Naunton. By  1879 it was Thomas Dorrell of Bentley and Hollingshead who was milling there.

A labourer, Thomas Medlicott of Shrawley and his wife, Mary from Hartlebury, lived at the mill in 1881. They were tenants of Thomas Pitt, landlord of the Red Lion Inn, who at that time also held Hollingshead Farm. Pitt resided at the Red Lion. The following year Pitt acted as Overseer of the Poor representing the mill. He apparently continuing to live at the Red Lion whilst his nine children were baptised between 1882 and  1895. Throughout that period he is described in the parish register as a miller not an innkeeper or victualler. In 1891 James Cole, a general labourer, was occupying the mill.

Dolly Pitt was born at Holt Mill on 27th March 1902, she was baptised on that day and was buried two days later. Her mother and father were Dolly and William Pitt. William was Thomas's oldest son born in 1881. His wife would probably have been a couple of years younger than he would; perhaps her youth was a factor in the demise of their hapless infant. William was farming the land at the mill, whereas his father continued as the miller. William probably did not stay for long and again labourers may have occupied it. He certainly did not have any more children baptised in the parish.

At the time of the 1920 estate sale Thomas Pitt was still resident at the Red Lion and farming Holt Mill and again Hollingshead. The mill had with it 30 acres of grass, 9 acres of arable and 11 acres of orchard. The homestead comprised a  large farmhouse, a range of animal houses and cart sheds, a cider mill and the corn mill. Thomas Pitt owned the grinding stones in the latter. He paid an annual rent of £100. A separately let cottage and a bungalow cottage were also included in the sale lot. The prospective purchaser was expected to pay an addition £221 for the standing timber. The commuted tithe rent charge was £13.7.5. The lot was withdrawn when the final bid  reached £1900. Pitt then continued to farm at the mill. The second estate sale took place in 1925 when all remaining properties were sold. Holt Mill however did not appear in the sale catalogue. Pitt remained at the mill until about 1932. He must therefore have purchased it privately immediately after the 1920 sale, or at some time in the succeeding five years. In 1928 he was liable for £11.9.8 tithe charge on 57 acres at the mill, in addition to £1.13.10 and £6.19.19 for blocks of land on the Heath and at Hollingshead.

With monies borrowed from Chris Millichip, of Hurst Farm, Roland Henry Gardner purchased the property off Pitt. At that time the mill was used as a youth hostel and tearooms, which Gardner continued for a time. His first wife, Lydia nee' Lacey, died in November 1941. Ada Vernon who worked in the tearooms became his second wife. His second marriage took place at the Wyche Church, Malvern in 1943. Roland had a son, Ronald, by his first wife, and a daughter, Susan, by his second. Susan married a farmer, Richard 'Dick' Alec Gill, and still lives in Holt. During the Second World War land girls that were working at Bentley lodged in the hostel. When Gardner sold-up in 1951, Fred Tyler becoming the owner.

Tyler owned several farms in the area and one on the Isle of Wight. Ben Cooper, who was born in the area, went to manage the latter farm but was brought back by Tyler to manage Holt Mill. Tyler retained the land when he sold off the farmstead with 12 acres of land. Lambourne who proceeded to set-up a mink farm purchased the lot. The American mink that hunt along local brooks are the descendants of escapees from fur farms such as that established at Holt Mill. Lambourne acquired an additional 3-acre piece from Fred Tyler's widow.

Holt Mill 1990

When Fred Tyler's widow died William (Bill) Arnold, who now farms it from Ombersley purchased most of the land. Most of the ground is generally very 'banky' and so is used as sheep pasture. Following a period of dereliction the mill and farmstead were developed into a large desirable private residence first occupied by Richard and Gillian Graves. It last came onto the market in 1990. With seven acres of woodland the property now runs to some 15 acres in total.