Mill Road, Salisbury

Mill Road is in central Salisbury. It runs along the northern side of Queen Elizabeth Gardens.

I think it’s named in reference to the ‘original’ Fisherton Mill.

I believe that the name ‘Fisherton Mill’ has been applied to two different buildings – the current Fisherton Mill, just off of Fisherton Street, and the ‘old’ Fisherton Mill which was close to the Fisherton end of Queen Elizabeth Gardens.

The first Fisherton Mill

The first chronologically was on the river Nadder, on or near Fisherton Island.

There was a mill at Fisherton in 1086. Mills in Fisherton are mentioned in a dowry in 1273, in conveyancing documents in 1589, and again in 1653 (when three grist mills are specified), and then in various documents through the 18th and 19th Centuries. ¹

In the 20th Century Fisherton Mill was first owned by Messrs. F. Bowle & Sons.

In 1935, ownership was taken by J. H. Bartlett and then, in 1956, by Messrs. H. R. & S. Sainsbury & Co., Ltd.

The picture below was taken from the Long Bridge, in 1955.



Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith. Click on the photo if you would like to buy a copy!

The second Fisherton Mill

The second Fisherton Mill is the mill that currently stands at the Fisherton end of Fisherton Street, on the right as you look away from the town.

This was built as a grain mill in 1880 ² by W.Main & Sons Ltd. The mill was a grain mill, serving the Corn Exchange (which is now the library) and Main’s shop, which was in the Nationwide building opposite the library. The mill employed up to 25 people, but closed in 1984.

It was subsequently a carpet warehouse, and store-rooms for Salisbury playhouse.

In 1993-4, Michael and Leonard Main, the great grandsons of the original founder, converted the building into a workshops, a shop, a gallery and cafe. It’s well worth a visit – both for the building and the artwork.

Fisherton Mill - Mains mill, Salisbury

Which Fisherton Mill was Mill Road named after?

As I said, I believe that Mill Road is probably named after the older Fisherton Mill.

There are two reasons for this:

• The chronology – this isn’t conclusive, but given that the road was called Mill Road ‘subsequently’ to 1860 and Main’s Mill wasn’t built until 1880, it seems more likely to have been named after the original mill
• The location – the original Fisherton Mill was more or less at the end of Mill Road. The road does curve away, towards the railway station, but the road ‘leads’ to the location of the old mill rather than the newer one

Mill Road was Church Street

As late as 1860, most of Mill Road was actually known as ‘Church Street’ ³.

This would, I think, have been a reference to the Church of Saint Clements, which stood at the ‘Churchfields end’ of what is now Mill Road. The church was re-built as Saint Pauls on the other side of the railway station in the early 1850s.

Part of Mill Road was known as Harcourt Bridge Road in 1879 – I think this was the section between Crane Bridge and Water Lane, but I’m not sure ⁴.

Footnotes

1. Fisherton Anger | British History Online [↩]
2. Fisherton Mill, Salisbury, Wiltshire | Art Gallery, Cafe and Mill [↩]
3. ‘Fisherton Anger’, A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 180-194. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41809 Date accessed: 14 September 2009. [↩]
4. ‘Fisherton Anger’, A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 180-194. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41809 Date accessed: 14 September 2009. [↩]