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From the mid 17th century until c.1908, Lightpill Mill was used as a cloth mill, although in the 19th century, parts of it were used for other purposes, such as pin-making, printing and dyeing.
The oldest surviving mill building is the four-storey block furthest from the road, astride the stream, built c.1818 for Shillito Stather. The top storey is later. The cross-wing with brick window heads was added in 1850-54, and has an impressive chimney. The north block is an addition of the 1870s. The old clothier's house was demolished in the 1850s.
In 1911, Lightpill Mill was taken over by Syrolit Ltd, (Erinoid Ltd. from 1914), a plastics manufacturer, and became one of the earliest British centres of the plastics industry. The firm used a German process to manufacture a new type of plastic which was widely used for buttons and ornaments. The business expanded rapidly and employed more than 500 people by 1933.
After 1957, the firm was subject to a series of take-overs, which led to it becoming part of BP in 1965. The site was much expanded in the 1960s to form a very large complex stretching along the roadside towards Dudbridge. The plastics factory closed in 1982 and the site was redeveloped as the Bath Road Trading Estate.
From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local
History Society
Revised 2018 EMW
