2. In Britain and beyond…
1771
1775
The American War of Independence
starts
1770s
Here and in Shropshire…
c1770
Shrewsbury’s English Bridge is
constructed (on site of earlier bridge)
1779
Britain’s first water-powered
textile mill opens at Cromford
The world’s first iron bridge is built over
the River Severn, giving it’s name to
Ironbridge
3. 1780s
In Britain and beyond…
1783
The American War of Independence
ends.
1787
The Committee for Abolition of the
Slave Trade is formed
1789
Here and in Shropshire…
1780’s
Shrewsbury’s place as a centre for the
wool trade is declining
1787
Revolution in France! The storming of
the Bastille
The world’s first iron boat is launched
into the River Severn at Willey Wharf
4. Here and in Shropshire…
1796
The world’s first cast iron aqueduct is built at
Longdon-on-tern
1796
William Hazledine builds a state-of-the-art iron
foundry at Coleham
1796-97
The Main Mill is built – the world’s first iron framed
building
1797
The 17 mile Shrewsbury Canal is opened; the
Flaxmill has it’s own wharf and brings in coal for the
steam engines.
1797
Reynolds’ china factory opens at Coalport
1797
Shrewsbury’s last wool market is held
In Britain and beyond…
1790
The world’s first steam-powered
textile factory is opened
1793
Britain at war with France
1798
Rebellion against British rule in Ireland
1798
1790s
Wordsworth & Coleridge publish
Lyrical Ballads
5. Here and in Shropshire…
1803
The original Cross Mill is built
1804
The Marshall, Benyon & Bage
partnership breaks up; Marshall now
effectively controls the business.
1805
The Warehouse is built; 3rd
oldest iron-
framed building in the world
1809
Charles Darwin is born in Shrewsbury
In Britain and beyond…
1801–03
First sailing around Australia
1805
1807
The slave trade to Britain is abolished
(but not slavery in British colonies)
1800s
Nelson defeats Napoleon at Trafalgar
The Benyons & Bage set up a new
Flaxmill at Castlefields
6. 1810s
In Britain and beyond…
1811-12
1815
The corn laws are introduced: grain
imports are taxed and food prices rise
1815
Wellington defeats Napoleon at waterloo
Here and in Shropshire…
1811
The original Cross Mill burns down
1812
The new Cross Mill is built, partly with
materials from the original; it is the 8th
oldest iron framed-building in the world
1812
1816
Lord Hill’s column is built: Shrewsbury’s
tribute to a hero of the Wars with the
French, Rowland Hill of Hawkstone
Luddite protests against textile industry
mechanisation
The Apprentice House on the site is built
7. 1820s
In Britain and beyond…
1820
King George III dies; George IV is
crowned
1825
Here and in Shropshire…
1829
1820s
New technology means flax can now
be spun wet; production is more
cost-effective but spinners work in
very humid conditions
The world’s first steam locomotive
passenger service Born at Hawkstone in 1772, hero of
Waterloo, Rowland Hill becomes
Commander-in-Chief of the British
Army
8. In Britain and beyond…
1830
George IV dies; William IV is crowned
1832
The Great Reform Act: voting rights are
extended-more men can vote
1833
The Factories Act restricts women’s and
children’s working hours
1837
1838
Dickens publishes Oliver Twist
1830s
Here and in Shropshire…
1835
1836
A gooseberry and carnation show is
held; this will develop into The
Shrewsbury Flower Show
1837
The Castlefields Flaxmill is demolished
following the deaths of Benjamin and
Thomas Benyon, former partners in the
Ditherington Mill
Victoria becomes Queen
The Shrewsbury Canal is connected
with the wider canal network
9. 1840s
In Britain and beyond…
1845
1846
Repeal of the Corn Laws: grain
imports are no longer taxed
Here and in Shropshire…
1842
Roland Hill (1st
Viscount Hill) dies at
Hadnall
1845
Flaxmill entrepreneur John Marshall
dies
1848
Shrewsbury’s railway station is built
Potato harvest fails in Ireland: many
starve, are dispossessed of land
rights, emigrate
10. 1850s
In Britain and beyond…
1851
1854
The Crimean War begins
1859
Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of
Species
Here and in Shropshire…
1850s
1858
The Shrewsbury-Crewe rail line is
built, single-track adjacent to this
site, which has it’s own sidings
1859
Dr William Penny-Brookes stages the
first Wenlock Olympian Games
1859
Wroxeter Roman City is discovered
The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace
The Dye House and adjacent Stove House
are re-built
11. 1860s
In Britain and beyond…
1867
Here and in Shropshire…
1862
A second track is added to the
Shrewsbury-Crewe rail line,
improving capacity and speed
Second Reform Act: about 1/3rd
of adult men can now vote
12. 1870s
In Britain and beyond…
1870
Women gain limited rights to keep
their property after marriage
Here and in Shropshire…
1875
Dawley-born Matthew Webb
becomes the first person to swim
the English Channel
13. 1880s
In Britain and beyond…
1880
1881
1st
home to be lit by an electric light
Here and in Shropshire…
1882
1886
Marshall & Co flax-spinners ceases
to trade; this site and it’s Leeds
mills close and are sold
Education becomes compulsory
for children under 10
Shrewsbury School moves to it’s present
location, on the site of the former workhouse
and foundling hospital
14. 1890sIn Britain and beyond…
1896
A E Housman’s A Shropshire Lad is
published
1897
Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee
1897
Marconi patents radio communication
device
1899
2nd
Boer War in Africa
Here and in Shropshire…
1896-7
William Jones buys this site and
converts the building to a
Maltings
Main adaptations: windows blocked and
reduced; steeping tanks inserted; lean-to
structure alongside canal, wooden hoist
tower and ironwork crown (to
commemorate Queens Victoria’s
Diamond Jubilee) are built
1898
The Kiln is built
15. 1900s
In Britain and beyond…
1901
1908
Old Age Pensions are introduced
Here and in Shropshire…
1900
Coleham pumping station is built
1907
18 people are killed when a train
de-rails at Shrewsbury
Queen Victoria dies
16. 1910sIn Britain and beyond…
1910
King Edward VII dies: George V is crowned
1911
National Insurance Act
1912
1914-18
First World War
1917
Revolution in Russia
1918
New legislation: some women can vote
Here and in Shropshire…
1910
Shrewsbury Town’s football club is
established at Gay Meadow
1916
Shropshire resident Mary Webb
writes her first novel The Golden
Arrow
1919
Ellesmere-born Eglantyne Jebb
founds the charity Save the Children
The Titanic sinks
17. 1920s
In Britain and beyond…
1924
First Labour Prime Minister: Ramsay
Macdonald
1927
The BBC is created
1928
Women over 21 can now vote
1929
Here and in Shropshire…
1922
Shrewsbury’s Porthill Bridge is built
1924
Shropshire author Mary Webb writes
her most famous book Precious Bane
1926
Shrewsbury’s English Bridge is
widened and re-built
The Wall Street Crash sparks The Great
Depression
18. 1930sIn Britain and beyond…
1936
The Jarrow March against poverty and
unemployment
1936
1939
Second World War starts
Here and in Shropshire…
1934
William Jones Maltsters Ltd went
bankrupt and this site closed
1939(?)-45
The site was used as a training
barracks and for the storage by the
53rd
Regiment of Foot, Shropshire’s
Light Infantry
King George V dies; Edward VIII crowned,
abdicates; marries Wallis Simpson
19. 1940sIn Britain and beyond…
1940
Allied troops are evacuated from
Dunkirk
The Battle of Britain
1944
The Butler Act: free secondary
education
1945
1948
National Health Service established
Here and in Shropshire…
1944
The Shrewsbury Canal is officially
closed
Factory Bridge c 1955 – Image from Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust
1948
This site re-opened as a maltings,
operated by Ansells Brewery and
successor companiesEnd of WW2 in Europe
20. 1950s
In Britain and beyond…
1952
Queen Elizabeth II succeeds George
VI
1958
First motorway in Britain opens
1959
Here and in Shropshire…
1951
The South Silo (nearest the site
entrance) is built to store barley
1950’s
The Flaxmill starts to be
recognised as an important
building in the history of
engineering
1950’s
A group of boys at Shrewsbury
School start a school magazine –
the forerunner of Private Eye
The Mini car is launched
21. 1960sIn Britain and beyond…
1961
1962
The death penalty is abolished
1965
Comprehensive education system initiated
1966
England win the World Cup
1967
Abortion and homosexuality are legalised
1969
Airliner Concorde’s first flight
Here and in Shropshire…
1960
The North Silo (furthest from the site entrance)
is built to store malt
1963
Telford is designated a New Town
1965
Shrewsbury’s new Market Hall is opened
IMAGE – “Yellow Book” -Flickr
Gagarin is the first human to voyage into space
22. 1970sIn Britain and beyond…
1971
British currency is decimalised
1972
‘Bloody Sunday’ in Londonderry
1973
Britain joins the European Economic
Community
1978-9
Mass strikes: the ‘Winter of
Discontent’
Here and in Shropshire…
1970’s
The Maltings continues to operate,
while mergers introduce structural
change in malting and brewing
industries
1970’s
Purpose built, large scale malting
and brewing facilities are
constructed, making production
more efficient
23. In Britain and beyond…
1982
Britain at war with Argentina over The
Falklands
1983
1984
Miners’ Strike in response to pit closures
1989
Tim Berners-Lee writes a paper outlining
ideas that will develop into the world
wide web
1980s
Here and in Shropshire…
1983
The M54 is opened
1984
Dickens' A Christmas Carol is filmed in
Shrewsbury
1986
Ironbridge Gorge is designated as a World
Heritage Site
1987
This site closes as a maltings, continued
operation having become uneconomic
First mobile phone sold commercially
24. 1990sIn Britain and beyond…
1990
Riots and mass demonstrations over
the Poll Tax
1992
1999
Devolution of Scotland and Wales
Here and in Shropshire…
1990s
Successive owners/developers find
themselves unable to fund
conservation and development of this
site
1990s
Many of the Brother Cadfael novels,
written by Shropshire author Edith
Pargeter ('Ellis Peters') are filmed for tv
The Channel Tunnel opens
25. In Britain and beyond…
2001
‘9/11’: The World Trade Centre is
attacked
2001
The most recent phase of the Afghanistan
War begins
2003
Britain and the US invade Iraq
2005
2000s
Here and in Shropshire…
2005
English Heritage buy the freehold of this site
to ensure conservation of the buildings
2007
Shrewsbury Town Football Club moves from
Gay Meadow
The Kyoto Protocol: a landmark climate
change agreement
26. 2010s
In Britain and beyond…
2010
Apple launches the iPad
2010
The Arab Spring: unrest and revolution in
the Arab world
2012
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
2012
Here and in Shropshire…
2010 onwards
Shropshire Council, English Heritage
and the Friends of the Flaxmill-
Maltings work together to develop
viable plans for the Flaxmill-Maltings
site
2012
The Heritage Lottery Fund grant funds
to take forward long-term proposals
for the site's third century of use
London hosts the Olympic Games