Why is the new housing development at the bottom of Frenchay Hill called The Flock Mill?
There was a mill on this site from medieval times.
In Victorian times it made picks and hoes to export to the West Indies.
During the First World War the mill played a part in the war effort. Old clothes were brought to the mill. The buttons were taken off and the clothes soaked in disinfectant to kill the fleas. They were then minced up into flock and used to stuff palliases – a portable mattress used by the troops. Louise Powell, a Frenchay resident who died recently aged 100, said that on the days when the clothes were minced the bottom of Frenchay Hill was covered in grey fluff.
There was a mill on this site from medieval times.
In Victorian times it made picks and hoes to export to the West Indies.
During the First World War the mill played a part in the war effort. Old clothes were brought to the mill. The buttons were taken off and the clothes soaked in disinfectant to kill the fleas. They were then minced up into flock and used to stuff palliases – a portable mattress used by the troops. Louise Powell, a Frenchay resident who died recently aged 100, said that on the days when the clothes were minced the bottom of Frenchay Hill was covered in grey fluff.
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