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176 HISTORY OF CORN MILLING: vol. iv.
IV.
KING'S MILLS,
LIVERPOOL.
19. Townsend
Windmill.
The Horse-
mill,
1361-1667.
Moore Deeds,
357.
Rental, 50.
Alley, and at the Inquisition following
his death in
1 53 1 he was found to have been possessed of "two
horse-mills in Liverpool." Subsequently the mill in
Whiteacres Street was abolished and that " in Castle
Street " retained ; this being the particular horse-mill
which the defendants in the cause of 1587 stated
William More possessed in Liverpool. In the time
of Sir Edward Moore its site may be identified by the
Rental:—''You may build a house in Phoenix Alley
(where Boulton the miller lived) fronting to Fenwick
Alley, only remembering to be careful not to stop the
lights of the horse-mill. . . . Remember Andell (of
Phoi^nix Alley) doth not with his back buildings stop
away any of the lights belonging to the horse-mill."
The map of 1765 shows these alleys, and enables the
site to be fixed as near the junction of Fenwick Street
and Brunswick Street, beside the corner of the Corn
Exchange, the approach only to the mill being in
Castle Street.* The business done at this malt mill in
the centre of the town must have been considerable, and
Moore was by no means unappreciative of its value :—
The horse-mill, God bless it ! a thing of great concernment to
your estate. I have got, when the trading to Lockabar was used,
20 measures of toll a week for two years together when malt sold for
5s. a Winchester measure.- But now 9 or 10 measures a week, and
against fairs or holidays 20 measures a week.
This remember, have a great eye how custom rises or falls at
this mill. Know every week what tenant you have that grinds away
without lawful cause, and make them pay for it according to the
covenants in their leases. . . . Mark well the covenant for grinding
at your mills : let your penalty be as high as you can agree with
* Near the mill on the east side of Castle Street stood the once well-known
hostelry " The Millstone." In 1738 the Laneas]lire Journal 2A\tx\\%&'=> the loss of
a horse at "The Millstone at Liverpool" ; and in 1744 one Ralph Peters charges
the corporation, according to their books, with "Expenses at the Millstone taking"
affidavits 8s. 6d.," in connection with one of their lawsuits. It was then "an inn
of the first class." and one of the {^\^ at which post-chaises were kept. In 1766
one of the two stage-coaches " which go constantly to London in three days in the
winter and two in the summer" started from " The Millstone in Castle Street" ;
the other running from " The Talbot " in Water Street. Herdman says the inn
was kept by one Elizabeth Harrison "as late as 1766"; but ten years after
this date the Liverpool newspapers advertised a sale there of the effects of George
Cockshott the last host who ;
presided over the fortunes of " The Millstone."