Image ID: 11838

Mill Road, Elston, 1978

Courtesy of Reg Baker

Mill Road
Elston
England

Looking North West into the Village. On the far left is the remains of Elston Mill. On the 22nd of November 1844 the Stamford Mercury reported that: "On Friday last as some men were raising the sails of a new mill at Elston, a prop which supported them gave way and the sails fell with a tremendous crash on a youth about 14 years of age, literally burying his head in the earth, breaking his collar bone and otherwise injuring him. There is hope of his recovery." Elston Mill had previously been bought from Richard Gresley by Joseph Lee, and the mill remained in the Lee family until 1901, when Edward Lee sold it to Colonel Darwin of Elston Hall, who employed John Jasper Laughton to do the milling. One source reports that the mill was out of action until 1919, when the Gash family took over the mill. William Gash senior from Syerston bought the mill, and his son William Gash junior, an engineer recently returned from Tyneside after the slump in the aircraft industry, moved into the mill house. He took with him his wife Euphemia (or Effie), whom he had met in the north-east, and the couple started to sell animal foodstuffs; they were later joined by William's younger brother Alan. The sails had to be taken from the mill in the summer of 1940, owning to interference with the newly constructed Newton airfield nearby, and it has been commonly assumed that milling ceased at the same time. A miller's ledger, however, beginning in April 1941 and divided into two sections - "Elston" and "Long Bennington" - proves that this was not the case. The tower was tarred black with an ogee cap and double-shuttered patent sails; it was 51ft high with five storeys. The Gash family also operated a successful bus company, first operating a market service from Elston to Newark, but latterly from Newark to Nottingham and comprehensively serving all villages in between. The Gash family left behind several ledgers on their move to Newark in 1953; they date from 1923-1947 and provide a valuable insight into the daily grind at Elston. In 1969 the mill passed to W S Smith, who sold it to Mike Lawrence in 1977.

Date: 10/06/1978

Organisation Reference: NCCK000816

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