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204 HISTORY OF CORN MILLING: vol. iv.
IV
KING'S MILLS, v ^iLL Lane Mills.
of Shaw's
'_ Opening out from the site of Townsend Mill, at the top
28. Appendix : ^^^vv, and alongside the Art i's Gallery, Mill Lane, which a century
Their ^§° ^^^ ^^ ^" open croft containing two windmills ; this again leading
^"^^ Clayton Street, down a flight of stone «teps placed wholly across
Immediate
Successors. ^^ street, some part of which still remains. These mills are
shown in Enfield's map of 1768. The one nearer to Shaw's Brow
in 1784 was " raised to a very great height at considerable expense,"
and was the tallest in Liverpool. It had been owned by Thomas
Taylor, corn-factor, who lived in the house adjoining, at the corner
of Shaw's Brow, and whose death had occurred in 1780.* Noah
Smith was the miller here till his death in 1806.
Of the other mill, known as Carson's, there seems little record.
In 1803 was offered for sale " the beneficial interest for an un-
expired term of thirteen years in a wind corn mill, drying kiln, and
garden at Mill Place, near Shaw's Brow, together with three small
dwelling-houses and stable adjacent, subject to a clear rent of ^£"65
per annum ; also the dwelling-house on the east side of Rodney
Street, lately occupied by Mr. John Carson." A view of this mill,
in the rear of Christ Church, is published in Troughton's History of
Liverpool, 1810. The three small dwelling-houses
mill, trim and neat yet apparently, still remain.
The usual fate of windmills befell both these structures ;
attached to the
Carson's
being burnt down August 10, 1824, and Taylor's April 23, 1852,
It is the capless tower of the latter which in Herdman's drawing is
seen rising to the rear of the houses on the brow, on the site of the
Art Gallery. In 1813-15 these mills were employed in grinding
flour and peas for Wellington's army during the Waterloo campaign.
One of the reminiscences of Mr. George Lunt's father in connection
with Sunday grinding at Taylor's Mill about 1826 has already
Text, II. 317. been related. The miller there at that time was Richard Rawsthorne,
who resided in the house beside the mill, as Taylor had done.
" Gerard Street, near the mill," says Mr. Lunt, '*
was where my father
first set up in the baking business. It was at that time a rural
well-to-do and somewhat aristocratic neighbourhood. I have heard
him speak of hearing the cuckoo when seated at his bedroom
window in Gerard Street during a spell of illness. His business
increased so rapidly that he was shortly the employer of some halfdozen
hands. Those were good old days ! Country wheat was
* "
1784, Jan. 29. To be sold by auction, all that substantial and well-built
corn windmill ; together with five dwelling-houses, two stables, a croft, and
garden, let (exclusive of the mill) at the yearly rent of £2^. These premises are
situate on Shaw's Brow, in Liverpool ; were lately the estate and in the possession
of Mr. Thomas Taylor, corn-factor, deceased are now in the ; occupation of
Messrs. William and Robert Taylor, millers and are held ; by lease under the
Corporation of Liverpool for two lives now in being and a reversionary term of
twenty-one years, under a small yearly reserved ground rent of 5s. The mill has
been lately raised to a very great height at considerable expense, and the purchaser
may enter upon immediate possession. Apply to Suddell & Blackstock, attomies,
who want £3,000 about on eligible land security."