1) Castle Mill
The name of Mill Street commemorates the run of mills that once stood here, fed by the water in what was the former Castle moat. The Yazor Brook was used to supply water for the moat and used to drive several mills. Dog Mill, located at the west end near 9 Mill Street, was a small corn mill, of which we know very little. The larger Castle Mill, located at the East end, was originally owned by St Guthlac’s monks whose priory was on the grounds of Castle Green. This mill, in 1811, had two waters wheels, the larger being nineteen feet in diameter, and six pairs of stones.
Yet why were the mills demolished (around the same time as the passing of the 1848 Public Health Act) and the moat filled in?
By 1850 the city population had doubled in a century and the public drains were ill-equipped to cope with 10,000 souls. Sewage, slaughter waste and other rubbish poured into the mill race causing an ‘abominable’ stench and triggering outbreaks of typhus, small pox, scarlet fever and malaria. The moat was filled in, all except for the section now known as the Castle Pool, which was excavated in the late 1840s when 900 carts of fertile silt were removed and sold to the public. Meanwhile the old mill race became the Sally Walk, a popular stroll for city folk.
In 1865 a piece of land which included the site of the old Castle mill, between the infirmary and Castle Green, was obtained from the City Council and enclosed by a boundary wall and railings and a new entrance to the infirmary was created with a porter’s lodge built on the site of the Castle Mill. Today it is a private house. (Charles Renton, The Story of Hereford Hospitals)
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The name of Mill Street commemorates the run of mills that once stood here, fed by the water in what was the former Castle moat. The Yazor Brook was used to supply water for the moat and used to drive several mills. Dog Mill, located at the west end near 9 Mill Street, was a small corn mill, of which we know very little. The larger Castle Mill, located at the East end, was originally owned by St Guthlac’s monks whose priory was on the grounds of Castle Green. This mill, in 1811, had two waters wheels, the larger being nineteen feet in diameter, and six pairs of stones.
Yet why were the mills demolished (around the same time as the passing of the 1848 Public Health Act) and the moat filled in?
By 1850 the city population had doubled in a century and the public drains were ill-equipped to cope with 10,000 souls. Sewage, slaughter waste and other rubbish poured into the mill race causing an ‘abominable’ stench and triggering outbreaks of typhus, small pox, scarlet fever and malaria. The moat was filled in, all except for the section now known as the Castle Pool, which was excavated in the late 1840s when 900 carts of fertile silt were removed and sold to the public. Meanwhile the old mill race became the Sally Walk, a popular stroll for city folk.
In 1865 a piece of land which included the site of the old Castle mill, between the infirmary and Castle Green, was obtained from the City Council and enclosed by a boundary wall and railings and a new entrance to the infirmary was created with a porter’s lodge built on the site of the Castle Mill. Today it is a private house. (Charles Renton, The Story of Hereford Hospitals)
Return to Map
