Ogley Mill is now apartments, but was one a flour mill at the heart of the commercial centre of Brownhills. This would have been a valuable asset in a growing town.
This is important, and I’m very excited about it. Peter ‘Pedro’ Cutler has found the following sale notice in the archives from Aris’s Birmingham Gazette of 26th August 1850. This is every bit as significant as the one that turned out to be for Swingbridge Farm, near Clayhanger. It seems there was a big cheese in Brownhills before the likes of William Roberts and the Harrison Family became major players.
Apparently, Mr C. F. Cotterill owned a huge chunk of Brownhills, and if I’m not mistaken, this sale describes an area encompassing much of Ogley Hay and Catshill, not least Ogley Square and the Mill, including the land St. James Church was built upon. Cotterill may have become bankrupt, but this sale was worth a lot of money and he’d clearly been a major landowner.
So my question is this: Who was Cotterill? Is he documented anywhere, how did he make his money, and possibly more interestingly, how did he lose it? 1850 was gold rush time in Brownhills; pits were opening up, we were on the threshold of deep mining and the canals and railways were becoming major freight arteries. Such a large landholding coming up for sale clearly had a huge part to play in the future of the town. So why is the name Cotterill new to me?
I think this could open a new research angle to Brownhills history, and I’m keen to see what readers come up with.
Thanks, as ever, to Peter; his eagle eyes keep spotting stuff in the archives that is truly remarkable.
Comments and observations? Add them here or BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers.
STAFFORDSHIRE.
IMPORTANT SALE
AT OGLEY HAY FOUR MILES FROM WALSALL.
VALUABLE
FREEHOLD LAND, HOUSES, & MANUFACTORY,
WITH THE
VALUABLE MINES AND MINERALS
UNDER THE SAME.
BY H. FARRINGTON,
TO be SOLD by AUCTION (by direction of the Assignees of Mr. C. F. Cotterill, a bankrupt, and under I the order of Edmund Robert Daniell, Esq., one of the Commissioners of the District Court of Bankruptcy), at the George Hotel, in Walsall, on Tuesday the 10th day of September next, at four o’clock in the afternoon, in the following or such other lots as may be determined on, and subject to conditions then to be produced :—
LOT I.—All those eight newly-erected HOUSES, BLACKSMITHS’ SHOPS, WORKSHOPS, and OUT-OFFICES, in the several occupations of Anthony Thackcr and others, eligibly situated fronting to the road leading from the Brownhills Station, upon the South Staffordshire Raihvav, and within a hundred yards of the said Station; together with GARDEN GROUND, now used with the said Houses, having an extensive frontage to the road aforesaid, and suitable for the erection of twenty more Houses; together with all those four pieces or parcels of excellent ARABLE LAND, suitable for Market Gardeners, in the occupations of Dumbleton, Jackson, and others, being near the above, and lving on the south side of the South Staf-fordshire Railway, and having extensive frontages from the main road from Brownhilbs to Lichfield, and to new roads formed upon the Estate, containing 14 A. 3R. 39P.
Also all those several other pieces of ARABLE LAND, lying on the north side of the South Staffordshire Railway, in the occupations of Dumbleton, Bates, Ryley, and others, having a road from the Watling Street Road and containing 15A. OR. 7P.
Total quantity, 30A. OR. 6P
LOT II.—All those several pieces or parcels of very good ARABLE LAND, GARDEN GROUND, in excellent condition, lying near lot 1, and having extensive and very eligible frontages to the Turnpike Road from Chester to London, and to several very wide streets which have been formed upon the Estate, in the respective occupations of O. Robins, Woodhouse, Craddock, and others, containing together 60A. OR. 2SP.
Until the contraction of St. James church in 1850, Brownhills had been extra-parochial; that is, it had no parish. Clearly, to an expansionist church a growing urban area with no oversight was an undesirable situation. It seems Mr. Cotterill donated (or sold, perhaps) the land the church was to stand on.
Nearly in the centre of this lot is a piece of Land, containing 1A. 1R., which is given as a site for the erection of a new Church at Ogley, which is about to be commenced.
LOT III.—All those six newly-built HOUSES, with cemented fronts, together with the Brewhouses, Piggeries, Pump of good water, fronting to the road from Ogley Hay to Burntwood, and to a new street called Mill-street, in the several occupations of Mr. Joseph Aldridge, Linford, and others; together with an extensive range of WAREHOUSING SHOPPING, with the STACK and other BUILDINGS, lately used as a STEAM CORN MILL MANUFACTORY.
Also all those ten HOUSES, with Brewhouses, Piggeries. Out-offices. Yard, and Pump of water, adjoining the above, in the several occupations of Fox and others.
Also all those two DWELLING HOUSES and OUT-OFFICES near the above, with the GARDEN GROUND adjoining, in the occupations of Swinnington and another.
And also all those several pieces or parcels of excellent GARDEN GROUND, fronting to the road from Ogley to Burntwood. having valuable frontages to the said road, and two new streets, for Building purposes, in the several occupations of Craddock, Horton, Linford, and others.
The quantity of Land in this lot (including that on which the different Houses and Mill are erected) is 32A, OR. 20P.
The whole of the above Property will he sold with the benefit of all the MINES and MINERALS under the same, and subject to certain Leases on some of the lots which will shortly expire; full particulars of which will appear in future advertisements.
The sale of the above Properties presents a most desirable opportunity to Capitalists and others, as the proximity of the South Staffordshire Railway, with a Station within a hundred yards of the Estate, and the opening of the numerous new Collieries of the Marquis of Anglesey, W. Harrison, Esq., and W. Hanbury. Esq. (with a great probability of an excellent Mine of Coal under the Estate), must considerably improve the same.
Plans and further particulars may be obtained of Frederick Whitmore, Esq., Official Assignee, Waterloo-street, Birmingham; Mr. Bolton, Solicitor, Wolverhampton; Messrs. Lowndes and Co., Solicitors, Liverpool; Mr. Arthur Ryland, Solicitor, Cherry-street, Birmingham; the Auctioneer, Lichfield-street. Walsall; or of Messrs. Smith and James, Solicitors, 29. Waterloo-street, Birmingham.