Re: Brindley at/near Alton mills
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In reply to:
Re: Brindley at/near Alton mills
Richard Brindley 2/23/06
My father lived in Croft House, Alton, as a boy--pre-1934 it was Mill House. At that time there was a rumor that the house was haunted by the ghost of a former owner, a Brindley (in fact my great grandfather always claimed the ghost had spoken to him!!??) Attached to that rumor at some point was the name Brindley. A couple of years back my father spoke with the current owner, who asked him about "the suicide in the house". I admit this is all highly flimsy and circumstantial evidence--and in fact we are trying to clarify the rumors as much as anything. We got the following information from a book called Land of the Churnet: James Brindley's brother Joseph was manager of the Alton Wire Mill until his death in 1820 - followed by John Brindley (possibly his son) who was made redundant in 1828 when the lease expired and Pattens moved the business to Oakamoor. John carried on using the mill as a colour mill - making pigments for paint and the pottery industry, but went bankrupt in 1834.
I'm interested to see where the Brindley history intersects ours. Thanks for any help you can give!
Cheers, Mary
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Re: Brindley at/near Alton mills
Richard Brindley 2/24/06