This is a slow burner of a project as Ham Mill at Thrupp has been empty and falling into disrepair for some years now. I last wrote about this in 2017, some eight years ago but the mill has been unused for many years prior to that.
I took the above photo over 20 years ago when the blue metal church was near it. The photo below is one I took this month, May 2025.
The current proposal from Stonewood Homes based in Castle Combe isn’t that different to the previous proposal. The current application reads:
S.25/0405/FUL
Redevelopment of site to deliver 105 new dwellings through conversion of existing buildings and new build. Provision of commercial space (use class E), construction of pedestrian crossing on London Road and associated works.
The chimney looks to be in a bad condition so will either be rebuilt or repaired. Ham Mill is a Grade II listed building so removing the chimney probably wouldn’t be allowed.
A photo I took of it recently (May 2025) looks like the top half is leaning over although it could just be an illusion due to the camera angle. The chimney cross section is square rather than circular.
The tall mill chimneys are a major feature of the old mills around here and the mills and views wouldn’t be the same without them.
The planning application at Stroud District Council has a number of images of how the new development will look. Like the other local mill conversions it’s pretty big.
Below is a visualisation of the development taken from the publicly available planning application.
When this development is finished along with the other big planned developments in the valley the traffic into Stroud is going to be horrendous, not that it isn’t already.
Cycling and walking around these valleys is very popular and the canal path runs along the back of the building giving easy access to Stroud which is only a mile or so away so that will hopefully help.
As a note of interest to hikers, there’s a track that runs from Ham Lane directly to Winstones ice cream shop on the common!
The planning application is in the following link (it opens in a new tab): planning application for Ham Mill
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