Tonedale Mills, together with the neighbouring Tone Works, is a large textile mill in Wellington, Somerset, and the largest in South West England. Owned for over 200 years by members of the Fox family it was most famous for the production of 'Taunton serge', and later the khaki cloth and puttees used by the British Army. The mill was established in the middle of the eighteenth century, and thrived during the industrial revolution. At its peak, around 6,500 metres (21,300 ft) of material was produced at the factory each day. The cheap cost of producing fabric in third-world countries contributed to the factory mostly closing during the 1980s
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the Were family of Wellington began producing serge as a cottage industry. Edward Fox married Anna Were, and their son Thomas Fox (1747-1821) soon took over the company.[1] The wool industry thrived in areas used for sheep farming, like Somerset, and Taunton serge was particularly popular due to its balance between being light-weight and yet sufficiently thick.[2]The Were family had a fulling mill at the site of Tone Works by 1750,[3] and over the next seventeen years, the family's assets quadrupled as the industry thrived.[4] Thomas Fox, after learning the trade in Germany and the Netherlands for three years,[4] entered the business in 1768, became a partner in 1772 and sole proprietor in 1796, renaming the company and introduced the 'FOX' cloth mark.[1] It was renamed Fox Brothers in 1826.[1] The technological breakthroughs of the late 18th century revolutionised textile manufacture.[5]In the 1790s, Thomas Fox purchased a complex of buildings in Tonedale known variously as the 'Old Town Mills' or the 'Old Flour Mills' to centralise their processes.[6]This move facilitated an increase in both quality and quantity, while cutting costs as other production was brought in-house; basket weaving, joinery, book binding and metalworking was all carried out on the site.
The site is notable for having remains of each phase of power generation: water, steam and electricity,[7] as when steam power was introduced, Fox Brothers opted to retain their water management system as it might prove useful. The site was continually growing through the nineteenth century, and at its peak employed around 3,600 people around Wellington, and produced 6,500 metres (21,300 ft) of material each day.[4] At the Tonedale complex, dyers working for Fox Brothers developed a khaki dye which was worn by the British soldiers in the Second Boer War.[8] The complex was the largest woollen mill in South West England, and was rare in integrating ancillary processes on the same site. The mill continued to produce cloth on a large scale until it downsized in the 1980s. Most of the site is now abandoned
The explore
Access to the site was surprisingly easy following a fairly well trodden path to a hole in the fence and we were in pretty much every building was wide open,
we decided to head straight up the tower and work our way down the main building first
i hadn't looked up the mill so was pleasantly surprised to see the old machinery still on one of the work floors
After we worked our way through the other smaller buildings around the site in various states of decay
Eventually we found the old water wheel
We then headed into what turned out to be the old engine house full of beautiful old steam pumps and boilers unfortunately part of the roof has recently collapsed
lastly we headed for some buildings that appeared to be under development part of the building had inner doors blocked off we eventually came across some information showing the planned redevelopment of the site
Some flowers just growing in the old window frame
Thanks for looking
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the Were family of Wellington began producing serge as a cottage industry. Edward Fox married Anna Were, and their son Thomas Fox (1747-1821) soon took over the company.[1] The wool industry thrived in areas used for sheep farming, like Somerset, and Taunton serge was particularly popular due to its balance between being light-weight and yet sufficiently thick.[2]The Were family had a fulling mill at the site of Tone Works by 1750,[3] and over the next seventeen years, the family's assets quadrupled as the industry thrived.[4] Thomas Fox, after learning the trade in Germany and the Netherlands for three years,[4] entered the business in 1768, became a partner in 1772 and sole proprietor in 1796, renaming the company and introduced the 'FOX' cloth mark.[1] It was renamed Fox Brothers in 1826.[1] The technological breakthroughs of the late 18th century revolutionised textile manufacture.[5]In the 1790s, Thomas Fox purchased a complex of buildings in Tonedale known variously as the 'Old Town Mills' or the 'Old Flour Mills' to centralise their processes.[6]This move facilitated an increase in both quality and quantity, while cutting costs as other production was brought in-house; basket weaving, joinery, book binding and metalworking was all carried out on the site.
The site is notable for having remains of each phase of power generation: water, steam and electricity,[7] as when steam power was introduced, Fox Brothers opted to retain their water management system as it might prove useful. The site was continually growing through the nineteenth century, and at its peak employed around 3,600 people around Wellington, and produced 6,500 metres (21,300 ft) of material each day.[4] At the Tonedale complex, dyers working for Fox Brothers developed a khaki dye which was worn by the British soldiers in the Second Boer War.[8] The complex was the largest woollen mill in South West England, and was rare in integrating ancillary processes on the same site. The mill continued to produce cloth on a large scale until it downsized in the 1980s. Most of the site is now abandoned
The explore
Access to the site was surprisingly easy following a fairly well trodden path to a hole in the fence and we were in pretty much every building was wide open,
After we worked our way through the other smaller buildings around the site in various states of decay
Some flowers just growing in the old window frame
