Day 29. Wavell Mill. circa 1815.

I'm not exactly sure of the date of the building of this mill. It was certainly well established when the 'Loom Breaking Riots' occured in 1826. The building is much altered since it was a woolen mill and becoming a munitions factory in the World War years, then being used as the HQ for Air Tours. It was owned by The Turner Family and William Turner was a  much disliked mill owner who was also a Magistrate who would think nothing of jailing his workers for minor misdemeanors at his works. The plaque on the wall (it's above the door of the main entrance) tells of the riot and the consequences to the perpetrators, it doesn't tell of the people who were jailed for their part, or the hardships endured by them in the period building up to the riots. They had seen their wages cut by 50 % over a ten year period and found it very hard to feed their families. Local records shows an increase of children buried around this time due to the lack of food and thus the susceptibility to fend off minor ailments. At a mill, a few miles down the valley, the militia were ordered to fire on the rioters and several were killed and many more transported to Australia and other British Colonies. One innocent woman who was just looking for her daughter, who had gone to watch the rioters, was transported to Australia and separated from her family, she couldn't bear the separation and committed suicide in a woman's refuge in Australia.