Bristol Brass Company

The history of Saltford Brass Mill is inextricably linked with the fortunes of the Bristol Brass Company, the key events in its history being summarized in the following notes:

Bristol Brass Company

1702: Bristol Brass Company formed with its headquarters at Baptist Mills.  The partners in the company were a group of Quaker merchants and manufacturers:

The company was later joined by:

c.1704: Abraham Darby travels to the Low Countries, observing continental methods of brass making and recruiting skilled workers

1706: Join-Stock Company formed.  Chew Mill in Keynsham acquired.

Bristol Brass & Wire Company

c.1708: Abraham Darby moves to Coalbrookdale to pursue iron smelting.

c.1709: Partnership established with the Esher Brass Wire Company.  Bristol company renamed Bristol Brass & Wire Company.

1710: Company found copper works at Conham - The Cupolas

c.1711:  Company found copper works at Crews Hole, under the control of John & Thomas Coster.

1711: Baptist Mills (Headquarters & Brass Melting), Chew Mill (Battery), Woodborough Mill (Battery) and Weston Mill (Battery) in operation.

1721: Saltford Mill acquired (Battery Mill)

1724: Nehemiah Champion III patents process for manufacture of brass.

c.1730: Avon Mill, Keynsham, established as a Wire Drawing Mill.

United Brass Battery, Wire and Copper Company of Bristol, Esher, Upper Redbrook and Barton Regis

1734: Bristol Brass & Wire Company merged with John Coster's company at Redbrook on Wye.  Redbrook is closed in favour of Crews Hole and Conham.  Company is renamed the “United Brass Battery, Wire and Copper Company of Bristol, Esher, Upper Redbrook and Barton Regis”.

1738:  William Champion, son of Nehemiah (elder) patents process for zinc smelting.

1749: Partners in the Bristol company are:

In his history of the brass industry, Samuel Timmins observed:

'All the foregoing works were carried on by Joseph Loscombe and Brass Works Company for nearly fifty years, they were then taken on by a new firm, composed of three or four of the family of the Harfords, a Sir Jarret Smith and a Mr Battersby, who styled themselves "Harfords' and Bristol Brass Battery and Wire Company".

 Industrial History of Birmingham, 1866 

1777: Partners in the Bristol company are:

Harfords' & Bristol Brass Company

1786: Shares in the United Brass Battery, Wire and Copper Company of Bristol sold.  Company restructured and renamed as “Harfords' & Bristol Brass Company”, managed by Mark Harford II.

1789:  Harfords' & Bristol Brass Company buys Warmley works.

1790s: Woodborough Mill derelict.

c.1790: Harford & Bristol Brass Company lease Lower Fforest Copperworks north of Swansea

1796: Mark Harford II retires. Joseph Harford (Mark’s cousin) takes over as manager.  Company known as Joseph Harford & Bristol Brass Company.

1802:  Mark Harford III, 2nd son of Mark Harford II, takes over as manager. 

1809:  Manufacture of copper and brass ceases at Warmley.

1811:  Weston Battery Mill sold.

1814:  Baptist Mills abandoned.

1820:  Company ceases copper production.

1825:  Bitton Battery Mill closed.

1828:  Crews Hole Copper Works sold.

Charles Ludlow Walker

1833: Harfords’ & Bristol Brass Company cease manufacturing.  Premises leased to Charles Ludlow Walker who continues brass production.

1840s:  Avon Mill Upper Works constructed.

1849:  Kelston Battery Mill closed.

Donald & David Bain

1865: Premises bought by Donald and David Bain who continue brass battery and wire manufacture.

1870s:  Chew Battery Mill closed.

1903:  Donald Bain dies.  Alfred Davies, a Cornish mining engineer who had joined the company in the 1880s, takes over as manager.

1908:  Battery ceases at Saltford Mill.  Mill continues in operation as a rolling mill.

Alfred Davies

1925:  Alfred Davies takes over company on death of Donald Bain’s nephew.  Rolling operations cease at Saltford and mill advertised for sale.

1927:  Operations cease at Keynsham.