ii8 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1913 



fine Church which the monks built remained until the dissolution of their 

 Abbey in the 31st year of Henry VIII. 's reign, but then it was pulled down, 

 except the Lady Chapel, which was left to function as the Parish Church. 

 The present Church, however, was built in the reign of George I. 



All that now remains of the actual Abbey are the entrance gateway and 

 the external walls which have been utilized to form the front walls of ranges 

 of cottages. 



Some little doubt seems to have existed in regard to the age of the gate- 

 way. Mr Perkins, in 1886, considered that the upper storey was of later 

 date than the lower. In this Sir John Maclean concurred, but thought that 

 the whole was of later date than Mr Perkins imagined, believing that no 

 portion of it was earlier than the end of the 15th century. Mr Perkins now 

 assigns it to the i6th century. 



Kingswood, along with Bristol and Malmesbury. refused to take in the 

 body of Edward II., who had been murdered at Berkeley Castle. Abbot 

 Thoky (or Thokey), however, went with a considerable retinue to Berkeley 

 and fetched it to Gloucester. Out of offerings made by pilgrims to the shrine 

 of the murdered King, Abbot Wigmore built the transepts, the greater portion 

 of the choir, and certain other parts of the Cathedral. 



From the Gateway the Members proceeded to see, by kind permission of 

 Mr Stanley Tubbs, the " Silk Factory " — the Langford Mills. 



In what is called for purposes of higher education the " Wotton Area ' 

 (the district containing Wotton-under-Edge and some twenty-two villages' 

 with a population of about 12,000) there are the following industries : — 



Industries in the Wotton Area. 



1. Agriculture. — Main industry. 



2. Brickmaking — Wotton. 



3. Brewing. — Messrs Arnold. Perrett & Co., Wickwar ; Messrs John 



Arnold & Sons, High Street, Wickwar. 



4. Elastic Fabrics, etc. — Messrs Tubbs, Lewis & Co.* 



New Mills (elastic fabrics. Sandow's Developers are 

 manufactured here). 



Abbey Mills (silk, cotton and flax fishing-lines, elastic 

 cords and braids). Adjoining these mills are well- 

 appointed dye-works. 



Langford Mills (silk-throwng. The silk is transformed 

 direct from the raw material to the finished article) 



Charfield Mills.^ — (Pins, all kinds of bone articles such as 

 crochet-needles, knitting-needles, pen-holders, etc). 



The Abbey Mills were acquired by the Firm in 

 1870, the Langford Mills immediately afterwards, 

 and the New Mills a few years later. The entire 

 staff of operatives aggregates 700, all of whom 

 reside in the immediate neighbourhood. 



1 An illustrated article on this Company's Works has been published in " Industrial Gloucester- 

 shire," 1904, pp. 22-23. Chance & Bland, Gloucester, is. 



2 Until 1893 these mills were owned by Messrs Samuel Long & Co., who manufactured cloths, 

 etc., but in that year they were purchased by Firth & Co. (collotype and photo-mechanical printers). 

 In 1904, however. Frith & Co. sold the mills to Messrs Tubbs, Lewis & Co. A portion of the business 

 was transferred by the Cotswold Printing Society to Britannia Mill, Wotton, but Frith's returned to 

 Reigate. 



