place

Tonedale Mills

1754 establishments in England1772 establishments in EnglandGrade II* listed buildings in Taunton DeaneGrade II* listed industrial buildingsStructures on the Heritage at Risk register in Somerset
Textile mills in EnglandWatermills in SomersetWellington, Somerset
Tonedale Mills
Tonedale Mills

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 (see Fox Brothers), 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, but small-scale production continues on part of the site.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Tonedale Mills (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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N 50.984828 ° E -3.244368 °
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Tonedale Mills

Weavers Reach
TA21 0DH
England, United Kingdom
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Tonedale Mills
Tonedale Mills
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Nearby Places

Rockwell Green
Rockwell Green

Rockwell Green is a village near Wellington, in the Somerset West and Taunton district of Somerset, England. It lies just east of the Somerset-Devon border and is overlooked by the Blackdown Hills. The Wellington Monument is visible from almost anywhere in the village. The monument is on the verge of collapsing but is to be substantially rebuilt at the cost of up to £4 million by the National Trust.Rockwell Green has a railway bridge, under which a steam train, the City of Truro, was first recorded travelling at over 100 mph (160 km/h) in 1904. Although this has been the subject of much debate since then, recent research supports the claim. There have been numerous requests for a plaque or monument to be placed at the Beam Bridge hotel or Westford rail bridge: however very little has come of this so far. Two large water towers, both disused, bring a small number of visitors to the village. The older (redbrick) tower was built in the late 19th century and includes a circular steel tank. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. The more recent concrete tower was built in the 1930s.A number of houses in the original village are council-owned. In 1991 the population was estimated at 1,618. Since then more houses have been built and the population estimate from the 2001 census was 2,246. The population estimate in 2016 was 2,945.The village has a butcher's shop, one pub, a fish and chip shop, a post office, a general store, a church, a beauty salon/hairdressers, a primary school and pre-school, a village hall, and a post office; before moving to Exeter Road the post office was on the east side of Rockwell Green, in a 19th-century building that has been demolished.

Wellington, Somerset
Wellington, Somerset

Wellington is a market town in rural Somerset, a county in the west of England, situated 7 miles (11 km) south west of Taunton, near the border with Devon, which runs along the Blackdown Hills to the south of the town. The town has a population of 14,549, which includes the residents of the parish of Wellington Without, and the villages of Tone and Tonedale. Known as Weolingtun in the Anglo-Saxon period, its name had changed to Walintone by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086. Wellington became a town under a royal charter of 1215 and during the Middle Ages it grew as a centre for trade on the road from Bristol to Exeter. Major rebuilding took place following a fire in the town in 1731, after which it became a centre for cloth-making. It is possible that the fire referred to here was actually in Tiverton, Devon which has details of a major fire in the same year. Further information on a major fire in Wellington at this time cannot be found. In 1809, the Crown referenced Wellington when creating a viscountcy for the eventual Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, after his victory at the Battle of Talavera in the Peninsular War. When the title's name was being considered, Arthur's brother, Richard Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, found an available manor in the parish of Wellington, a name close to the family name. Richard oversaw the manor's purchase while Arthur commanded the army in Spain against the French. The Wellington Monument south of Wellington commemorates Arthur. The Grand Western Canal reached the town in 1835 and then the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1843. The town's own railway station survived until 1964. Wellington was home of Fox, Fowler and Company, which was the last commercial bank permitted to print their own sterling banknotes in England and Wales. In the 20th century closer links with Taunton meant that many of the residents of Wellington commuted there for work, and the M5 motorway enabled car journeys to be made more easily. Local industries, which now include an aerosol factory and bed manufacturers, are celebrated at the Wellington Museum in Fore street. Wellington is home to the independent Wellington School, and state-funded Court Fields School. It is also home to a range of cultural, sporting and religious sites including the 15th century Church of St John the Baptist. The capital city of New Zealand is named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, being recognised as having some influence in the company that founded the New Zealand town. The New Zealand capital therefore takes its name ultimately from the English town of Wellington in Somerset.