James MORSE - Milking Mead, Gatcombe/ Hagloe (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Wednesday, July 09, 2008, 02:03 (5991 days ago) @ j hargreaves

In 1901 your James is a Shipyard labourer at what looks like "Milkam Head"

I'm sure this is Milking Mead near Milkmaid Rock

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/

co ords 368500 205900

next to Gatcombe Wood and the limekilns

In the late 18th century and the early 19th Gatcombe was a centre of the timber trade. During the Napoleonic Wars it was one of the main shipping points for the oak timber sent from the Forest to the naval dockyards. (fn. 94) A navy purveyor living at Blakeney in 1801 (fn. 95) and a timber haulier of Etloe mentioned in 1809 were among those employed in that trade. (fn. 96) At a place called Milking Mead, a narrow coombe in the cliffs just upstream from Gatcombe, a timber yard belonged to the Oatfield Farm estate in the early 1790s when there was a wharf and warehouse adjoining; (fn. 97) in 1843 a small dwelling there was described as formerly a barkhouse (fn. 98) and had presumably been used by the Thomases in the Irish trade. William Ambrose, owner of Oatfield and the Hagloe estate from 1810, traded as a timber merchant (fn. 99) and had the yard in hand in the 1830s. Another, larger yard, called Gatcombe timber yard, occupied a field on the west side of the hamlet; (fn. 1) a gully in the cliffs enabled the timber to be lowered to the water's edge, where a small stone-built, high-water quay was constructed sometime during the early or mid 19th century. (fn. 2) In the early 19th century Gatcombe timber yard was occupied by a Chepstow timber company, which was succeeded as tenant by William Ambrose; in 1831 he sublet it to the Commissioners of the Navy. (fn. 3) There was another yard at the south end of the parish where timber was collected for shipping from Purton. (fn. 4) At Milking Mead a ruined limekiln survived next to the former timber yard in 1989, recalling another trade once carried on. (fn. 5)

From: 'Awre', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 14-46. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23250. Date accessed: 09 July 2008.

Shipbuilding was established in the parish by 1608 when shipwrights were living in Blakeney and Hagloe and a ship carpenter in Etloe; (fn. 8) a shipwright of Blakeney was mentioned in 1662. (fn. 9) All were perhaps employed at Gatcombe, where several vessels were built in the mid 17th century. (fn. 10) In 1787 J. B. Thomas and a partner owned a shipbuilding yard, probably at Milking Mead, and launched a brig of over 300 tons. (fn. 11) In 1804 when Thomas offered the yard for letting he claimed that vesels of over 600 tons had been built there. (fn. 12) Snows of 198 and 129 tons built in 1803 and 1834 respectively were probably more typical of the vessels built at Gatcombe. The latter boat was built by James and Thomas Shaw, (fn. 13) who in 1839 occupied a building below Gatcombe timber yard, close to the site of the quay mentioned above. (fn. 14) Members of the Shaw family were still boatbuilders in the parish in the 1850s, (fn. 15) though the railway line presumably prevented the building of all but very small craft at Gatcombe. In 1851 there was also a boatyard at Hamstalls, where a shipwright Charles Cooper was employing 18 workers; (fn. 16) it apparently closed soon afterwards.

From: 'Awre', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 14-46. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23250. Date accessed: 09 July 2008.

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