Mosney Mill

The moment Emma Sutton drove down the bumpy farm track to Mosney house, she knew the place was special. The over grown hedge rows were teaming with robins, blue tits and an assortment of finches who seemed to fly out ahead of her as though guiding her on to Mosney grounds. Once on the land, Emma immediately got what she describes as ‘an almost spiritual feeling that she was home.’ On seeing the old Barn, both Emma and her husband Dave immediately fell in love with the place. Emma says, ‘ we walked into what was then an old poison store for the market garden business that had been run from the grounds, and we could almost see the furniture.’ In fact the pair immediately went home and drew out exactly how they would renovate the barn and where every piece of furniture would be. During the renovations, the family uncovered Mosney’s rich history. Mosney was the site of a former print works, known as Mosney Print works. It was in operation from 1780 to 1788, and in this small space of time, Mosney Print Works made great progress in cloth printing. Thomas Bell of Mosney invented his “new and peculiar*” method of printing up to six colours at a time, with copper plates, patented in 1783. Further improvements were made to Bell’s idea, leading John Slater, a calico printer of Mosney, to patent a press “for printing 1-2-3 or more colours on cotton etc*” just two years later in 1785. This invention paved the way towards modern day fabric printing, and was a sign to Emma that she should bring print back to Mosney.