Wilden Mill
Wilden was part of the demesne of the Bishop of Worcester's manor ofFoley Ironworks
In 1647, it was referred to as having (or rather having had) six walk stocks and two cornAn estate enterprise
The forge lease was transferred to Richard Knight of Bringewood for its final years. When it expired in 1708, the landlord used it himself. He was the third Thomas Foley ofBlaenavon link
Lord Foley probably leased the forge to Thomas Hill & Co. from Michaelmas 1776. In 1789, this firm leasedBaldwins and after
The works were acquired by E., P. & W. Baldwin, who had previously had an ironTransport links
The works had the benefit of unusual transport link. There are the remains of a lock at Pratt's Wharf (miss-named Platts Wharf by the Ordnance Survey) on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, connecting the canal with the river, enabling canalFurther reading
*B. L. C. Johnson, 'The Stour valley iron industry in the late seventeenth century' 'Trans. Worcs. Arch. Soc.'' N.S., 27 (1950), 35-46; 'The charcoal iron industry in the early eighteenth century' ''Geographic J.'' 117 (1951), 167-177; 'The Foley partnerships: The iron industry at the end of the charcoal era' ''Econ. Hist Rev.'' Ser. II, 4 (1952), 322-40. *R. G. Schafer, 'Genesis and structure of the Foley ""Ironworks In Partnership"" of 1692' ''Business Hist.'' 13(1) (1971), 19-38; ''A selection from the records of Philip Foley's Stour valley iron works 1668-74'' (Worcs. Hist. Soc., n.s., 9, 1978 and 13, 1990). *H. W. Gwilliam, 'Forges, Furnaces, and mills on the river Stour' (Typescript. 2 vols. 1984: copies in Kidderminster and other Worcestershire libraries). *See also
*References
Note
The basis for this article includes unpublished sources, including certain Worcester Episcopal archives in Worcestershire Record Office; archives of Earl Baldwin (by his kind permission) also there; and those of the Foley family (also by permission) in Herefordshire Record Offices.External links