BILBERRY BRIDGE & UPPER DIGLEY MILL

BILBERRY BRIDGE

At the time of the flood there was a stone bridge crossing the stream a little below the mill, called Bilberry Bridge.

But this was clean swept away, and its site covered with debris.  The bed of the river at this place was turned completely out of its course.  A small cottage built below this bridge was also partly demolished.

UPPER DIGLEY MILL

About 300 yards below Bilberry Mill stood Upper Digley Mill, which had been worked by Mr. John Furniss, as a woollen manufactory, but at the time of the flood his affairs were in the hands of the Leeds Bankruptcy court, and two balliffs, named Thomas Miles and Wm. Crompton, were in possession of the place in behalf of the court. 

The buildings consisted of a stone mill, a large house, farm buildings and outhouses. The end of this mill was washed away; a quantity of machinery and a large amount of property in the shape of pieces of cloth, warps, etc., were destroyed, and the gable end of the house, which was comparatively new, and the whole of the farm buildings were swept away. 

All the lower storey of the mill was completely gutted, and the front of the mill was strewed with long pieces of cloth and broken machinery.  In the house were Mrs. Furniss and Mrs. L. Furniss, and family, besides the two bailiffs above mentioned.

The family were alarmed at the rapid rise of the water at about half-past twelve, and left the house for a place of safety, but the bailiffs, who were in bed, had a narrow escape. 
Crompton had barely time to put on his clothes and get on the rising ground before the final bursting of the reservoir took place.  He had to wade up to the middle in water before he could land on terra firma, and gain the mountain side. 

Mrs Furniss saw the bursting of the reservoir, and described it as “the rising of an immense sheet of foam or mist, accompanied by a sound like reverberating thunder.” 

The miller employed in the factory had been confined to bed for seven weeks, and he with his wife and three children remained at the house at one end of the mill till the following day, when he was taken away in a cart, he not having sustained any personal injury. 

Between this mill and Lower Digley Mill appeared to be one mass of sand and loose stones after the flood had spent its fury, some of the stones being estimated to weigh over 4 tonnes, and these had been tumbled forward by the waters like so many bits of moss.