J.P.Harvey's Corn Mill

From SVR Wiki
Revision as of 14:02, 12 September 2020 by Patrick Hearn (talk | contribs) (Info added)
Jump to: navigation, search
Map showing the location of the corn mill
J.P. Harvey receipt dated 1964

J P Harvey & Co Ltd operated a corn mill adjacent to Kidderminster Goods Yard. A 1936 GWRGreat Western Railway Worcester Area Traffic Research Report discusses negotiations with "J. & P. Harvey" and Worcester Farmers Ltd. and mentions Harvey & Co's private siding at Kidderminster.

The 1938 map shows the corn mill and the fence separating it from the goods yard, and its position in relation to the GWRGreat Western Railway goods sheds, which now serve as Kidderminster Railway Museum and the Carriage Repair Works. No trace of the corn mill remains.

Between 1973 and 1977, an ex J.P.Harvey 'GRANO' grain hopper van was resident on the SVRSevern Valley Railway.

Business history

Mr. J. P. Harvey was described as a corn dealer by 1867 in a report of a theft by one Harvey Broomfield, a boy of "very bad character".[1] A Mr. Josiah Peart Harvey was established a corn merchant by 1880 and gave land in Kidderminster for Church Street Baptist Church to be built.[2] An advertisement dates the Limited Company business back at least as far as 1916.[3]

A 1928 invoice shows a flour mill in Mill Street, offices and warehouse in Oxford Street, and corn mills and manure works at the Railway Station, Kidderminster. A 1936 contemporary report refers to "J P Harvey & Co, of Kidderminster and Evesham".[4] A 1964 receipt still gives the address of the mill as the Railway Station, Kidderminster although J.P. Harvey (Wholesale Grain) Limited's registered address was 'P.O. Box 12, Station Mills, Kidderminster".

Taken together they suggest Station Mill(s) was a form of the address at the station, and continuing operation of the mill on the site for a long period as part of a wider business and long established with other locations.

(Grace's Guide refers to a J Harvey of Kidderminster exhibiting at the 1873 Vienna Universal Exhibition but it is unclear if this is related).

See also

Private sidings connected to the Severn Valley Railway
Wagons formerly resident on the SVR

References

  1. County Express; Brierley Hill, Stourbridge, Kidderminster, and Dudley News, 6 April 1867 in the British Newspaper Archive
  2. Milton Hall Baptist Church, Church history (Retrieved 12 September 2020)
  3. Abergavenny Chronicle, 20 October 1916 via The National Library of Wales (Retrieved 12 September 2016)
  4. Evesham Journal, 13 January 2011 (Retrieved 12 September 2020)

Links