The James Constances of Longhope, Steam Saw Mills etc (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, July 02, 2013, 17:37 (4163 days ago) @ m p griffiths

Hi M,
thanks for clearing that up, and how nice to see you know Harriet's birthplace, it sound's charming. Looking up the many Harriet Dales on LDS & FreeBMD I got the impression Harriet was as popular a name in the Staffordshire Dales (?!) as James was in the Longhope Constances.
You now mention you think maybe a second marriage. Must admit that was my initial thought too, given the 1856 date seemed quite late in their lives. However as there were apparently two James born abt 1806 in the 1861 Census in two different areas I thought perhaps not ?? Having now read the c1876 Trade Directories# and compared to the 1881 Census I'm still unsure whether there were two James Constances in Longhope at the time, both seemingly well-off, one a Farmer and t'other the Mill owner, or do they refer to one & the same James as hinted by the 1881 Census ?. I suspect the farmer is a son, but ??

Either way I'm sure you'll clear it up,
atb Jeff

# I added some more background info wrt the Saw Mill to my earlier post which hopefully helps, the Directories name a few? James Constances. Certainly the Constance name was a very important one in the village for many years well into the C20th. The Mill is a subject close to my heart as my grandfather worked there boy & man as a turner for many years, as did his father before him, very luckily for me they're in this photo.
http://www.longhopevillage.co.uk/thenandnow/index.asp?album=2&image=4

I still have some of Grampy's pieces which he apparently turned in his spare lunchtimes from scrap leftovers of beech, walnut etc, which explains why the standard lamp is such an interesting variety of colours/grains thro it's constituent sections !. I was impressed to see he'd turned internal & external screwthreads at the ends of the sections to fit them into one long standard with a "table" section midway, clearly they were skilled workers at the Mill. Cutting screwthreads using a metalcutting lathe is difficult, doing so on a lathe which just turns the wood workpiece, so the cutting tools are hand-held rather than bolted-down & machine-moved, must be far harder !.

Glostershire Archives hold several items related to the Constance Mill's history, see
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=040-d3824&cid=0#0

Also see this article giving a modern view of work at the Mill.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-368000-219000/page/14