Hi there,
My name is Ellie and I am a Researcher on the Channel 4 Series, the Restoration Man. We have been following the restoration of a former Flint Mill, located on Mill Street in Stone, Staffordshire.
From c1759-1818 it was owned by a Robert Bill - I wonder whether this is the father of the Constantina Walton Bill you have been researching? We are looking to find out as much as possible about the Bill family of Stone, we'd be particularly interested in speaking to any descendants - have you had any joy in tracking them down?
To give you some further information, a collection of letters found in a house in Stone in the 1780s indicate that Robert Bill was involved not only in the buying, grinding and selling of flint for the potteries, but the supply of a host of other materials; coal, stone, clay, cotton wool and ale.
A date stone on the large neighbouring water mill (now the Mill Restaurant and Hotel) indicates that in 1795 Robert Bill moved over to corn milling. It is understood that from then on he ran the corn mill by day and the flint mill by night. In 1818 the mill changed hands and became under the ownership of Thomas Dawson – it is unclear whether this was on account of Bill’s death.
