Page 4 - Prospect Hill

Prospect Hill
Next door to the Mills was Prospect House, from which perhaps the hill takes its name.
During the 1860s the Bartleet family lived in Prospect House and 'The Shrubbery'.

Each new year's day Mr C A Bartleet invited all those soft workers once in his
employment to a grand dinner at Prospect House, while Captain Bartleet in 'The
Shrubbery' would hold a dinner for all the pensioners in the district. Abbey Mills were
later taken over by Clarkes.

Further down the hill, on the same side, is Albert Street, along which runs Samuel
Thomas's factory. British Mills. Part of it is still standing and at the front, in good
condition, is the Laurels. Samuel Thomas's wonderful Victorian house, suitably
impressive for a wealthy needlemaster. Built in 1838. it is now a listed building, together
with number 18. British Mills and many of the factories round about, such as Argosy
Works in Clive Road, are original Victorian mills and among the oldest in Redditch.

Opposite British Mills, on the corner of Clive Road and Prospect Hill, is Brunswick
House, built about 1864. It was built and occupied by Mr James of Excelsior Works,
which are behind the house and along Olive Road.

On the other corner of Prospect Hill and Clive Road was a private hotel called 'The
Willows', run by Mrs Ludtord. In the 1860s. it was the home of the Holyoake family
who owned Abbey Needle Mills. Clive Road was built after the railway arrived in 1859
and was the site of the first railway station in Redditch.

One of the little cottages on Prospect Hill was Barbara Taylor's home:

"We had a gas lamp in the kitchen and in the bedroom. The gas mantle was about
2½ inches (about 6 cms) deep and 1½. inches (about 4 cms) wide, and it was
white and very fragile. It had a little knob on the side, you pulled it, there was a
'pop' and the lamp was supposed to come on but sometimes it didn't work. Then
you had to light the mantle with a taper. If you weren't careful, you knocked against
the mantle and it broke. My father was always having to buy new mantles. He
used to go crazy. He would shout, 'Who's put a hole in this mantle?'.

'In the back yard there was the kitchen, the coalhouse, then the toilet. I used to
be frightened to death to go to the toilet in the dark. My father rigged up a battery
on the wall of the toilet with a little light. 'We used to go for long country walks. In
those days, you could walk straight down Beoley Road away from the centre of
Redditch and from there it was all open country. If you went to the left towards
Beoley you ended up at the bottom of Beoley Hill. From there you could either
come out at Bordesley opposite the garage where the old toll house was or you
could come back behind the Abbey meadows. These meadows were full of
mounds, we used to wonder what they were. If you turned right from the end of
Beoley Road you went over the brook, and after two or three fields you would
come out into Watery Lane."

Extracted from “Old Redditch Voices”by Ann Bradford.

Page: 4 of 18 Compiled by Redditch Library Volunteers