The Cornmill
THE 1854 AUCTION
The Warley Cornmills were owned by The Murgatroyd family for most of the time from the 13th Century until the mid 1850’s. The last Murgatroyds to run the mills were brothers Hartley (1797-1865) and John (1799-1873).
The brother's seem to have got into some financial difficulties and had to sell 19 buildings in Luddenden and the surrounding valley including the Cornmills. These were sold at an auction held at the Murgatroyd Arms on 19th July 1854, neither of the Mills sold on the day, but both change hands shortly afterwards.
The brochure includes two maps that give a detailed view of the village and show all the properties that are on sale.
Lot 13 is Upper mill and includes the mill pond and a plot of land and sluices next to the weir. The map shows what each building is used for, the majority of the buildings are being used for malting barley ready for making beer.
Lot 14 is Lower mill. You can see the position of the water wheel, you can see that there is a boiler room and a chimney (so this mill has steam power). There are cottages to the south side of the mill and a building labelled as Counting House adjacent to the bridge. The land and building is Lot 14 is labelled as 'Holme' and it extends as far as the next weir on the brook. This whole area is now occupied by Blue Bell Walk.
Below is a copy of the map above, highlighting Lot 13. This hand traced copy is part of a document drawn up in 1856 when Upper Mill was bought by the Thompsons. The Thompsons had a partner called Joseph Starkey who had a third share in the mill.
