In the same year, he bought the estate of Henry Stephens, along with the manorial rights. The position of Lord of the Manor was to later prove useful in a number of ways.

By 1820, Henry had been joined in the business by his two sons, James Phillimore and Henry Purnell Hicks, and "H. Hicks & Sons" were adding steam engines to their Eastington mills. By now, they were also operating Bonds Mill, just over the parish boundary in Stonehouse, where they installed a further engine. The period c1810-1830 was one of great activity for Hicks, as he continued to build up his business and update and enlarge his manufacturing sites. Apart from a programme of expansion for his existing mills, c1810, he built a completely new mill in the meadows below the confluence of the two arms of the Frome than run through the parish. This was aptly named Meadow Mills.

As his wealth increased, Hicks decided a new family residence was in order and c1815, built The Leaze, to which he added a large park, a short distance from his mill at Churchend.  [This was on the site of the original building, Eastington Manor, which had been demolished in 1778.]  Along with this, he systematically bought up adjoining land until eventually, he owned much of this area of the parish.

Churchend was formerly linked to the Stonehouse-Alkerton road by a lane that ran from the north-east of the churchyard to a point near the entrance of the drive to Eastington Park. When this was built, the lane was stopped up and replaced by the road that now runs along the north of the churchyard, which had apparently formerly been the private drive of the (demolished) Stephens’ manor-house situated adjacent to the church.

Despite the fact that much of his wealth was generated through the efforts of his workers and his mills, Hicks apparently did not wish to be reminded of them from his new house and during the construction of a new chimney stack at Churchend Mills, the height was reduced so that it would not be visible from The Leaze. Likewise, a tall screen of trees was planted along the southern edge of his estate, effectively hiding Bonds Mill from his view.

There was a peculiar happening at the house in December 1829, a period of great economic hardship and social unrest in the countryside. A group of sixteen ‘poachers’ came to the house and shot tame pheasants that Hicks had trained to wander about on the front lawns. When Hicks came to the front door to investigate the noise, the poachers continued shooting and dared anyone to stop them. This act was clearly not about poaching, but a symbolic act of protest about worsening living conditions in the countryside. It was also a show of strength in front of a landowner and obviously meant to be intimidating, despite the fact that those involved made no specific demands of Hicks nor aired any general grievances.

Although Hicks seems to have remained fairly remote from his workforce, he nevertheless made some  contributions towards their spiritual and other needs. For instance, he paid for the clock for the tower of St Michaels church (although this may have been his way of ensuring that his workforce at Churchend Mills would not be late for work!). Although there was a gulf between Hicks and his workers, he does not appear to have been deliberately antagonistic as were some of the other masters.

In a time when philanthropy and business went hand in hand, he contributed in a variety of ways to the well-being of the parish. He supported the village schools, such as they were, and encouraged children employed in his mills to attend school on a half-day basis. Local education prospects were boosted further when in 1818, from his position as Lord of the Manor, he donated land adjacent to the church for the construction of a new Charity School. In addition, his grant of £50 went some way towards paying for its actual construction. The building of the new school took away the need for the teacher who had been employed for some time to instruct 30 pupils in one of his village mills.

Although the quality of the cloth produced in Hicks' mills was never in question, in March 1835, the business failed. Overall, the decade was not to be a good one for the Hicks family, as apart from the failure of the business, a spate of deaths occurred. Charlotte Hicks, Henry's wife, had already died in May 1832, to be followed in June 1836 by Hicks himself. The Hicks had previously lost one son in 1824, when Winchcomb Henry Hicks died at the tender age of 21, and in the same year that his father died, the eldest son, John Phillimore, also passed away.

Immediately following this troubled period, the estate was split up amongst the other members of the family. Part of the estate passed to Eliza Phillimore-Hicks, John Phillimore's widow. This consisted of The Leaze and its park, plus Churchend and Meadow Mills. Eliza and her four daughters subsequently spent some time living in France before retiring to Clevedon. Her daughters (Emma, Fanny, Julia and Margaret) inherited the estate at Eliza's death in 1868. In that year, she was still recorded as Lady of the Manor, and The Leaze as a principal residence. Within a year or so, The Leaze had been sold to Thomas Marling, of the well known local cloth-making family. Up to the early 1890s, Emma and Julia retained ownership of Churchend and Meadow Mills. Julia died in 1896 and when the last of the four (Emma) died in 1901, ownership of the mills passed to a cousin, Cecil Hicks-Austin of London; the Hicks' long connection with Eastington effectively came to an end at this point.

NOTE:  This article, as it appeared in ECN magazine, was Steve’s own  precis of his full length article entitled ‘THE RISE AND FALL OF HENRY HICKS, CLOTHIER OF EASTINGTON’ published in the Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology Journal for 2002 pages 19-28.

Click here to see the full article

Stephen Mills

Published in ECN 117  Sep/Oct 2009

At its peak in the 19th century, Eastington became a thriving mini mill town, with virtually all of its social and industrial life inextricably bound up with the woollen cloth trade. Much of this industry’s development during the first half of the 19th century occurred as a direct result of the influence of the Hicks. For several generations, they came to dominate virtually every aspect of village life.

The Hicks family formed an offshoot of the notable Cotswold Hicks-Beach family, first appearing on the Eastington stage c1785. By 1798, they were living in Millend House. The family was clearly already wealthy, possibly as a result of their prior involvement in the woollen cloth trade elsewhere. Various family members had long been active in the trade in other parts of the county, although before Henry Hicks’ arrival, they had no known connections with Eastington. During the ensuing years, Hicks built up a substantial empire that would ultimately encompass property, lands, farms and mills.

His initial efforts were focused mainly on the existing Churchend Mill, which by around 1806, he had substantially rebuilt and enlarged (it stood immediately behind the school and was demolished c1912).

The Hicks Family