before the above conveyance was made; Richard del Crosse, in 1415, making a grant to "Katherine, formerly the wife of Thomas del Hough, my mother." She appears to have died soon after, having survived Mayor William thirty-two years.

1

1 Add. MSS., 32105/gg/2708.

THE OLD FLOUR MILLS OF WIRRAL

By E. Mitford Abraham

Read 3rd December 1903

IT may be of some interest to mention and describe, as far as possible, the old mills of Wirral, chiefly because they represent an industry which has quite changed in character, and for which they are no longer wanted.

Many have been entirely destroyed, and their sites are unknown; most are in a ruinous condition, and will soon disappear altogether; some ceased working a few years ago, and only four are now working at all, that is, as grist mills.

There were two chief kinds of windmills: the early peg or post mill, a wooden structure elevated on a central peg or post; and the later tower mill, a stone or brick building. In both kinds the arms, or sails as they are called, nearly reached the ground, but on the later high tower mills a gallery or stage running round the mill 10 to 15 feet above the ground necessarily raised the arms in proportion.

The wooden peg mill was turned round by the miller on its central pivot or post, according to the direction of the wind. In the case of the tower mill only the upper portion, to which the arms were attached, was turned round.

Watermills sometimes had overshot wheels, that is, where the stream falls on the upper part of the revolving wheel; and sometimes undershot wheels,

that is, where the stream strikes the lower part of the wheel.

Mrs. Gamlin, in her book, "Twixt Mersey and Dee," mentions a gorse mill as having once stood on Bidston Hill. The site of this structure is not known, and it seems to have been destroyed at least a century ago.

The late Mr. E. W. Cox, in a communication to this society's Transactions for the year 1896, describes and illustrates two ancient grain crushers or mortars. The first, he says, is prehistoric, and is hollowed with a cavity in the centre, and a shallower one at each end for holding the grain to be pounded. It is made of a hard whinstone boulder, and was found by himself in Wirral. The second was taken out of the walls of the crypt at Birkenhead Priory. It is made out of a rough block of red gritstone, and is deeply hollowed with use. The two examples are interesting, as showing to how late a date prehistoric methods survived in milling, as this form is found to date back to a prehistoric era. The Birkenhead example is no doubt monastic, more than one having been found in the ruins.

We will commence our survey with Bidston, because there are traces of an earlier foundation for a mill here than anywhere else in Wirral. Bidston Mill has quite the finest and most prominent position of all the Wirral windmills. Situated on the brow of the hill, it commands a magnificent position for any wind. Although its position is absolutely unrivalled for wind, it was a very awkward place to get at from the farmer's standpoint, the village of Bidston standing 150 feet below, half a mile away to the north, whilst the only means of approach were by rocky ascending paths or lanes. The first Bidston Mill, which was standing

at least as early as the sixteenth century, stood about 40 yards to the north of the present structure. This old mill was, of course, a peg mill, and was destroyed by fire in 1791. The site of this earlier mill can easily be made out, and consists of two trenches about 15 feet long by 3 feet wide, dùg out of the solid rock, and shaped like a Greek cross. These trenches, which were about 2 feet deep, cross each other at right angles, and are now nearly filled up with earth, &c.

In these trenches there were laid four large beams, which must have fitted closely into the trenches. At the intersecting point there was fixed the great post or peg upon which the mill rested. This post, about 6 feet high, was supported at the top by four beams, which rested at their lower ends upon the trench beams. Upon this foundation the wooden mill rested.

During one heavy gale in 1791 the arms of this old mill broke loose, and as a consequence friction caused a fire, and it was totally destroyed. It was not rebuilt, but an entirely different kind of mill was erected close by. This was a brick tower building, and is the one still standing, although the arms and machinery have been destroyed by fire twice during the last century, in 1821 and 1839.

It seems strange that this mill should have stopped working so many years before the majority of the others, but it has not worked since 1875. Nothing was done to keep it in repair for some time, and after losing three of its arms and most of the roof, it was completely restored in 1894 by Mr. R. S. Hudson, who in return took away the old arm left on the mill and the one just blown down, to have chairs made out of them.

Wallasey Mill was situated on the top of the hill just south of the church, and was a great

landmark to mariners. Built of stone, and very antique looking, it was a picturesque little building, and was pulled down about twenty-five years ago, to be replaced by a large modern brick mansion with a small central tower, which is exactly over the site of the old mill. The wooden gates to this house are built out of the old arms of the mill.

A watermill used to stand on the marsh between Poulton and Bidston, and the small whitewashed cottage still standing there was most probably the mill house. The site of the mill can still be seen, and a few large stones lying about are all that remains of the building, which was pulled down nearly a century ago.

It is not known whether this mill was a corn mill or not. An old Wallasey resident said that, although she had never seen the mill herself, she had heard people talk about it as a slitting mill, and what this means she did not know.

Situated, as it was, by the tidal creek of Wallasey Pool, it is quite possible this was a tidal mill, only a few examples of which now remain in this country. The idea of the tidal mill was that on the rising tide the mill pool was flooded, and then the water was run out over the mill wheel during the ebb. Unless the mill was worked in this way, it would have been on the same plan as that at Bromborough.

Tranmere Mill, a large brick tower building with a stage, was situated near the workhouse at the top of Mill Street. It was pulled down about thirty years ago, and was built about the same time as the present Bebington Mill.

Bebington Mill is a brick tower building, situated near the top of Storeton Hill, in Higher Bebington, and is a prominent landmark, particularly from Liverpool and the Mersey.

The life of this mill is now ended, having ceased