Owlhurst

Whitaker’s Bag mill or Bannister’s furniture factory

This little mill is located in Turner Street, off Church Street. Just three floors high, The Owlhurst has been used by Whitaker to make bags or sacks, such as flour bags, and in the early 20thC, by Bannister Brothers to manufacture furniture and joinery.

This area of land was known as the Owlhurst and owned (date uncertain) by Edward Bradley (c.1765 – >1836), and thought to be rented to Edward Sheldon. The mill was either owned or rented around 1836 by Edward Sheldon. It has been suggested that the street was at that time known as Owlhurst Street. The Sheldon and Bradley families seem to have been jointly involved in a number of activities in the town over many years, and there was also inter-marriage between them.

The building was unused for many years and burnt out in the 1990s. It was subsequently converted into domestic units.

Listed building 

The Owlhurst (mill); II, c.1865; Formerly Whittaker’s flour bag mill, later Bannister’s Joinery Workshop; late 20thC gutted by fire, before conversion to domestic.