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BRENTFORD |
and 18th centuries and while most used the swell of the rivers
Brent and Thames to power them, some were turned by harnessing
the wind. The windmill from which Windmill Road takes its name
had been in existence for some time by 1698 but records show
that by the 18th century it was long gone.
In 1777, a windmill also stood on the south side of Brentford
High Street on the site where Waterman’s now stand. Plans from
Ealing Parish dating 1771 it also shows it was operated by
Messrs Roberts Delving into other records from the period the
vestry minutes note several complaints in 1771 because of piles
of large bricks being left beside the windmill by workmen rebuilding
the Barge Aground public house. Other vestry minutes from 1762
mention a windmill again. When Mr hart was accused of adding to
the congestion on the narrow part of the High Street by building
a windmill. A water mill was first recorded in Brentford in 1377.
In 1738 the lord of
the Manor of Boston leased out the right to build a watermill on
the River Brent. This mill survived until 1904 standing on the
site of the Boatman’s Institute on the west side of the Butts. A
steam-powered mill was also in operation in the 18th century
standing at the bottom of Catherine Wheel Road or Catherine
Wheel Yard as it was known. A survey in 1792 mentions the mill,
which was used for grinding wheat to make flour. Due to the mill’s
size it paid substantial rates. It was built by Mr Gould and Robert
Wallace Johnson MD. The next Brentford directory, from 1823,
does not record the mill, so presumably it had closed down by then
Photographs of Brentford
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