HISTORY

Gornal's Old Mill Gornal is fortunate in having interesting buildings at the highest and lowest points of its boundary. At the foot of Gornal Wood lies the famous Crooked House pub, where rolled objects defy gravity and only the most kaylied of the clientele will see things straight. And at the top of Ruiton, of course, we have our Mill. Ruiton New Mill Today Many people refer to this as the 'Old Mill', probably because the nearby pub has that name, and it is after all quite old, dating from 1830. However, this makes it a mere whippersnapper in terms of windmill history and, in the same way that the Birmingham New Road seems to keep its full name no matter how many years go by, we should really refer to it as 'Ruiton New Mill' in honour of a once proud, but now vanished, older brother. It is hard to imagine today, in our fossil fuel and nuclear age, the importance of windmill construction technology through the Centuries, its proven efficiency enabling it to sail through (sorry, but 'breeze through' is just as bad a pun!) the turmoil of the early Industrial Revolution more or less unchanged and unchallenged. The basic design, it is said, was introduced into this country by the Crusaders, even earlier than the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, and by the beginning of the following century windmills had started to appear in the Black Country. There are two main types of mill. The Post Mill came first, its name deriving from the central wooden pole on which the whole mill had to be swivelled to adapt to wind direction. Around 1550 Flanders inventors had the - with hindsight obvious - idea of mounting a revolving cap and sails onto a fixed mill, so that the whole structure did not have to be moved to meet the wind. And so the Tower Mill was born, of which Ruiton New Mill is an example. The old Gornal joke is that we used to have two windmills but 'there wor enuff wind fer both on em', and indeed there was an Old Mill, whose importance can be gauged by the fact that roads and paths kept continuously open by manor law led to it from all corners of the district. Less well know however is that there were actually three mills at Ruiton (in addition to others at Sandyfields, Cotwall End, and near the site of Dormston School). Ruiton Old Mill appears on a 1682 map showing 'Gournall'. In 1702 Peter Persehouse sold it to Thomas Maullin, a nailer from Coseley. The Maullin family became a local mill owning dynasty throughout the 18th Century; they also worked the 'new' Coseley Mill next to St. Chad's church, built around 1780 and now converted into a beautiful house. It is said that one can see Ruiton New Mill on the skyline from the converted mill at Coseley, a rare sight indeed given the paucity of windmills still standing in the area. Unfortunately the trees of the Black Country Urban Forest, coupled with my poor sense of direction, have rendered me unable to personally confirm this for you - Yampy readers are invited to do better and let us know. The Maullins kept Ruiton Old Mill for more than 50 years, but they sold it in 1759, while remaining at the Coseley Mill for many more years before handing over to the King family. It was soon bought by Samuel Fereday senior, whose eponymous son figures so prominently in the story of Ellowes Hall. Samuel jr. must have had his hands full with his plans for the Ellers, because he sold it off to the person leasing it from him, Thomas Turner, and by 1835 it came into the ownership of George Richmond, a Gornal Miller who had just recently had built for him in Vale Street a brand new mill - the one still standing today. Richmond's acquisition of the Old Mill seems to have been unfortunate; a man who already has one windmill buys another a few hundred yards away - and then three years later goes bankrupt and has his assets seized in lieu of debts! This left the Old Mill with a less than certain future, passing into the hands of bankers and tenants until it was eventually sold, first to a Paul Thompson and then, in 1861, to Edward Jones. On Wednesday 31st January 1872, following heavy rainfall and the unceasing vibration caused by neighbouring quarry work, the Old Mill tumbled to the earth with a tremendous crash. Meanwhile, the New Mill, a Tower Mill of yellow sandstone, passed through several owners before ending its comparatively short working life around 1880. The stocks and machinery have long since been removed, but the structure and interior is in good condition, and the view from the top is spectacular in all directions. It serves as HQ to Dudley Caving Club, and a Committee has been formed to decide how best to protect and develop the landmark. Good for another 150 Years? Atop The Mill - Towards Ruiton St., left, Vale St., right And the third Ruiton mill? Another tower mill, it was built around the same time as the New Mill, and was used to grind stone into sand for building purposes. Around 1900 it was turned into a house, known in Gornal as the 'Round House'. Sadly it fell into decay and collapsed in 1961. If any Yampy readers remember this event or have any other memories or items of interest regarding local windmills, we would be very pleased to hear from you.

Would you like to contribute an article about Gornal history and/or traditions? Do you have a comment on this piece? Please email us at admin@yampy.co.uk Acknowledgement of sources with thanks: Joseph McKenna 'Windmills of Birmingham and the Black Country', Brewin 1986 Additional information from Andrew Barnett's 'A History of Lower Gornal', Dudley Teachers' Centre 1975 Martin Reeves 2002.