Not barking up the wrong tree! By Eric Feasey

I first become interested in the history of Barking when I found out about the Wellington Mill, and join my local Barking History Society. To my surprise Barking was looking for volunteers to help with a National Lottery project. So, with a small group of volunteers, one of them turned out to be the young daughter of my best mate’s from childhood. She too was interested in the Wellington Mill because it is very near where we lived in East Ham. Through our research we have found out about the first windmills in Barking in the days of the Abbey, for instance, the 1777 map of Essex shows one of them which generated a lot more discussion amongst the team, as we discovered certain windmills were used for grinding bark into powder which is used in the tanning industry, which was originally situated near Uphall Camp - a Roman encampment by the side of the river Roding. The Romans did understand the process of leather tanning, and it doesn’t surprise me that the opposite side of the river was Tanner Street, in medieval Barking. Also nearby was a windmill. Could this have been one for grinding bark? I looked forward to seeing Barking and researching more about the tanning industry and its importance to Barking Abbey…

A challenge to all your young people out there compile a list of all the things that had been made from leather before this marvellous stuff called plastic was invented - which is polluting the oceans… So to begin your research on leather - think of this surname, Barker and Smith, there is a connection of leather to these surnames…

I’m not barking up the wrong tree - the origin of the surname Barker is English and has been found in records as early as 1200. Barker is an occupational surname that refers to those who stripped and prepared bark for use in the tanning process... Bark mills, also known as Catskill's mills, are water, steam, horse, or wind-powered edge mills, used to process the bark, roots, and branches of various tree species into a fine powder known as tanbark, used for tanning leather. The powdering allowed the tannin to be extracted more efficiently. A barker would strip the bark from trees before grinding in such mills and the dried bark was often stored in bark houses...

Meanwhile the Wellington mill, thus named because it was built in 1815... Our team have carried out research on the windmills and the article from British History Online is missing some details. Should we amend the information when it is just about the Wellington mill?

There are occasional references to mills elsewhere in Barking, on the site: ‘In 1243 William and Geoffrey Dun, who had erected a windmill, gave an undertaking to Barking Abbey not to erect any windmill or watermill in future within the manor of Barking. (fn. 63) There was a mill on the manor of Wyfields in 1567–74 and one on the manor of Uphall in 1634.’ (fn. 65) Both were no doubt on the Roding. A windmill is shown at the south end of Fisher Street (later Abbey Road) in 1777 – which is the one we now believe to be the bark mill. A steam mill at Ilford is listed in 1848–86.