Corn Mills

kiwinana · Post by **kiwinana** » Wed 31 Jul, 2013 7:27 am

I am in the final stages of editing an article about Benjamin Dawson & Co. Brewers. Benjamin and his brothers Edwin and John owned and operated what became Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds. The Dawson’s are my family line. Just in the last couple of days some information came to hand about two mills which I can ‘attach’ to the interest within the brewery. One such mill was called Mill Green Water Mill which I understand was also called Holbeck Water Mills and the other was New Wortley Steam Mill. I have tracked down scattered pieces of information as to addresses such as Spence Lane and Wortley Lane/Barleycorn Street. What I was hoping for is that within this research group someone who has an interest in ‘mills’ within the Holbeck/Wortley area may have some more information. The gentlemen concerned are John Dawson Snr and John Dawson Jnr. I have tried obtaining information from the WYAS, however they don’t appear to have any research material on line

HolbeckRobinson · Post by **HolbeckRobinson** » Fri 03 Jan, 2014 10:02 pm

Hi KiwianaMy family the Robinson's are also connected to this Holbeck Corn Mill. I wasn't aware of a link to Dawson's. However there is very useful info on Industrial Leeds at:etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1062/2/uk_bl_ethos_516617_VOL2.pdfThis is a well researched Phd thesis from 1975 on the Industrial Development of South Leeds. I have just re-read it and it contains a lot of the Dawson history of the Mill.I do have a bill-head from the Mill - will try and post to this site, if you are interested.Kind regards

HolbeckRobinson · Post by **HolbeckRobinson** » Fri 03 Jan, 2014 10:19 pm

KiwianaBTW - the thesis is a big file - over 500 pages. Will take along time to download on NZ internet - make sure you pull the string on the end of the can nice and tight. I would recommend you download it to a pdf. Also you can search (Ctrl F) to find the bits that are relevant to you.Seems the Dawson's preceded the Robinson's at the Mill by a generation. Don't think I have any other links with the Dawson's.There is a lot of other info about the Mill Green complex, including the fact Mathew Murray, set up business there.Kind regards

kiwinana · Post by **kiwinana** » Fri 10 Jan, 2014 6:07 am

Hi there, thanks for the info. Yes I did come across this thesis and it really opened up several doors for me. I came across it quite accidentally just by googling odd words to do with names of corn mills I already had. It took some time to process the information and I have now produced a booklet using this resource. It certainly helped enhance the reading of it. thanks againKind regards