GLOUCESTER ROAD, Thornbury

The Old Mill

The area next to Laburnum House (number 6 Gloucester Road) has had many uses in the last 200 years.  It is still regularly referred to by older local people as 'The Mill', the 'Transport Depot' or the 'Tyre Warehouse'.   Strangely none of these were very long-lived uses.  It was a very big structure, even from its earliest times.  This photograph taken at the time of the tyre depot fire shows the scale of the building.

It was originally part of the orchard land which ran behind St John Street and Gloucester Road.

The 1841 Tithe survey shows the land covered plots 247 and 246.  Both plots were owned and used by John Hodges.  Plot 247 was workshops with a yard fronting Gloucester Road.  Plot 245 was a garden located behind the workshops.

In the 1860's part of these plots was built upon with the houses that formed the final parts of the terrace.

We assume that the remaining buildings and yard continued to be used as builder's workshops and yard right up to George's death in 1905.  Following his death, it may have continued to be used in this way by George's son, James Albert Hodges who carried on as builder in his own right.

Motor Garage
We understand that George Pitman ran a motor engineering business from the buildings following his move from London.  George appears in the trade directory in 1923 operating under the name of 'Thornbury Garage', Gloucester Road.  We were told that George was often approached by 'vagrants' asking if they could earn money by doing odd jobs for George.  When it came to pay them at the end of the day they always refused, explaining that they would collect their earnings in the morning, otherwise the money would be taking off them when they entered the workhouse in the evening.

We are not sure how long the business operated there.  George and his wife moved to live in St John Street about 1926.  George does not appear in other trade directories after 1923, but Francis Edgar Russett appears in the trade directories in 1927 and 1931 as operating 'Thornbury Garage'.  As we know that the Chard Brothers used the building as a Mill from 1927, it seems likely that Francis operated from elsewhere on Gloucester Road, perhaps to the site adjoining Savery's garage which was later used by George Beard and Dick Shipp. 

The Mill
The building seems to have become a mill around 1927.  We know from the Thornbury Trade Directories that the Chard Brothers from 1927 to 1935 traded as 'corn, cake and English grain merchants' in what they called 'The Town Mills'.

In 1935/36 the account books of W.W. Pitchers referred to the property being 'late Chard Bros' now 'managed by Mr J. H. Wise, apparently on behalf of the 'Hodges Estate'.   The books mention work done by Pitchers in 1936/37 "breaking up concrete bed, repairs to walls & roof, taking down signs, clearing rubbish in yard, repairs to Mill doors". 

In 1937 there is a reference in these accounts to work done to erect 'TO LET' notices on void properties owned by the estate of George Hodges.  We suspect that this refers to the Mill property.

Transport Depot
The next occupant of the property whom we have traced is Till's Transport.  Ray Till had been operating this transport company from Morton, but moved to Gloucester Road about 1939/40.  In 1939 the company was listed in the trade directory as being in Morton.  During the War, Till's was very busy transporting cargo for the war effort, including we understand depth charges.  To facilitate access to the property an entrance was made in the rear wall which allowed lorries to enter the yard through Sawmill Lane.

Ray Till lost control of his company after the War, when the Labour Government nationalised road haulage and made Till's part of British Road Services.  When the Conservatives got back into power in 1951, they de-nationalised road haulage and Ray Till started buying back his lorries in the 50's, and in 1952 he created a new private company which he called Thornbury Transport Company.  Local people tell us that Ray became very successful and was often seen driving his Rolls Royce car through town.

Thornbury Transport was taken over by Humber Warehousing in 1965, a haulage company based in Grimsby.  However the name of Thornbury Transport continued operating well in the 1970's.  Its name appears in the 1973 trade directory as a 'haulage and transport contractor' whose address was 'The Old Mill'.  Humber Warehousing later moved to Avonmouth.

In the mid 1950's, part of the building fronting the Gloucester Road yard  was rented out by Thornbury Grammar School.  Many local people can remember taking their woodwork lessons with Mr Jenkins by going up the wooden staircase to the woodwork workshop on the first floor.  We have also heard that it was used by other teachers for lessons in other subjects.

Part of the building was also used by Caroline Packaging, a small company set up in 1972 to sell disposable paper plates and catering supplies.   

The Tyre Warehouse
The next occupant was United Tyre Company who operated a warehouse storing old tyres, before reputedly shipping these to Eastern Europe.  Their operations terminated in September 1992 when a fire destroyed their stock and much of the buildings.  Click here to read more about the fire.

Following the fire, the property was sold to developers and the 12 houses now known as Sawmill Lane were built.

This page was last updated: 15/03/2008