Rolfe’s Mill. It is in connection with Rolfe’s (or Rolph’s) Mill that some confusion can arise when reading Hamnett’s notes. The mill was built in 1784 by William Sheppard in Wesley street (formerly Brookside), the lease for the land being dated 1st October 1784.
The building, next to number 20 Wesley Street (built later), has a plaque on the wall containing Sheppard’s initials and the date. The house that stands at a right angle to the others, was the warehouse. Benjamin Rolfe was the first tenant but confusion can arise because the name “Rolfe’s Mill” was sometimes applied to Hawkshead after Rolfe moved there in 1792.
The mill was subsequently tenanted by a partnership of John Shepley (half) and brothers Samuel & Joseph Fielding (half between them) who worked it for making perpetual cotton rovings until March 1807 following Shepley’s death. See Shepley’s (Wharf) Mill. The Fielding brothers were cousins of Robert Fielding of Bridge End fulling mill.