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Port Mill took its name from the Brimscombe Port basin dug immediately to the east of it in the 1780s, although it is thought to be the mill recorded in 1744, as Field's Mill. In 1786, the mill was acquired by the Thames & Severn Canal Company, and in 1804, it was acting as a grist mill. In 1815, when the property was sold to the Lewis family of Brimscombe Mill, it consisted of a newly-erected house and corn mill.
By the mid 19th century, it had been converted to the production of cloth. In 1863, James Ferrabee moved to Port Mill from the Pheonix Ironworks at Thrupp. In 1870, he was manufacturing cloth there. In 1872, the mill was sold to what became the Marling & Evans group, and it remained in cloth production until the 1930s.
From 1949, the mill was occupied by Bensons International Systems Ltd, makers of loose-leaf ledger equipment, who employed 200 people here in 1962. In 1970, Bensons built a large new factory on the north side of the former canal basin. The fine four-storey mill building dates from the late 19th century, while to the east is a small 18th century two-storey salt store.
From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local History Society
Revised 2018 EMW
