Trouble at t’Mill

angry Victorian
Victorian fist fight

The rebuilding of Coxley Mill in 1886 wasn’t without its problems. Contractor Edward Mercer and clerk of works Alfred Tate came to blows over the quality of mortar used and it seems that Tate threatened to ‘stop the engine’ – the mill had a steam-powered beam engine – which presumably would have brought work at the mill to a standstill.

Mr Tate ended up with head injuries including two black eyes and lost a tooth.

Assault at Coxley Mill, 8 October 1886, British Newspaper Archive, ©THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD

The Building News

Goings on at Horbury Junction

The online British Newspaper Archive, available through Find my Past, has just added The Building News to its collection. It reported Victorian progress in Horbury, such as road widening, commissioning pipework and building chapels but in 1855 it seems that an ‘incendiary’ – an arsonist – struck at Horbury Junction Station.

1 May 1855, The Building News, British Newspaper Archive, ©THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD

Better news from the Junction came 32 years later when work was started on a new Wesleyan chapel, right next to the station opposite St Mary’s Church on the other side of the bridge across the railway.

Junction chape; article
29 July 1887, The Building News, British Newspaper Archive, ©THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD

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