Tonedale Mill

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Tonedale Mill (often referred to alongside its adjacent Tone Works) is a historic textile mill complex and is considered one of the largest and most complete woollen mill sites in the South West of England.

Origins and Early Growth
The site’s textile history dates back to the mid-18th century, when the Were family of Wellington produced Taunton serge as a cottage industry.
Thomas Fox (1747–1821), who married into the Were family, took over the business, modernised it, and in the 1790s purchased buildings in Tonedale to centralise production, renaming the company Fox Brothers.
The original timber mill burned down in 1821 and was rebuilt in brick, forming much of the core historic site still visible today.

Industrial Revolution and Expansion
Throughout the 19th century, Tonedale Mill expanded into a highly integrated woollen textile factory, incorporating spinning, weaving, finishing and ancillary services on site — an unusually complete industrial complex for its time. Power technologies evolved on site from waterwheels (using local streams and engineered basins) to steam engines and later electricity, with physical remains of each still present. At its peak, the mill produced up to 6,500 metres of cloth per day and employed thousands of workers in Wellington.

Military Textiles and Innovation
Tonedale became famous for technical breakthroughs in cloth production, notably helping develop the khaki dye for British Army uniforms (ending the era of the redcoat) and producing cloth for puttees used in early 20th century warfare.

20th Century Decline
Like much of the British textile industry, Tonedale suffered from international competition in the late 20th century, with large-scale production ending in the 1980s and associated works at Tone Works closing by 2000.
Some small-scale production has continued in parts of the site, especially under the Fox Brothers name after external investment helped sustain operations in the 2000s.

Heritage and Regeneration
Tonedale Mill and Tone Works buildings are mostly Grade II* listed and recognised as historically and architecturally important, showcasing nearly two centuries of industrial evolution.
After decades of vacancy and decay, the complex has been identified on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register, with local and national efforts underway to conserve and find sustainable new uses for the historic buildings.
Recent UK government funding through the Levelling Up Fund aims to support restoration and sensitive redevelopment that could include residential, commercial, and community spaces while preserving historic fabric.

Legacy

Tonedale Mill remains a remarkable physical record of Britain’s woollen textile industry, illustrating both the scale of industrial manufacturing in rural Somerset and the technological changes from water power through steam and electricity. Its surviving structures and machinery make it a nationally significant heritage asset.

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