44386
The Grade II * Listed Fisherton Mill Gallery and Café a converted Victorian grain mill in the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire.
The building dates from 1880, when it was built as a grain mill for William Main & Sons Ltd. Even today, the Mill's high ceilings, original pillars and cast-iron beams stand testament to its proud heritage as a working building.
William Main had the Mill built on Fisherton Street to be conveniently situated on the Market House railway siding from the station to the Market House (now the Cities Library). The stables used to house horses and carts are now Fisherton Mill's artists' studios.
When William died, his son Leonard inherited the business. His tenure was interrupted by the 1914 - 1918 war, when the War Department requisitioned the Mill as bonded warehousing for the Australian Army. From 1920 through to 1950, the business flourished, with Leonard's son Ronald taking over in the 1960s.
Rapid mechanisation and new farming methods led the Main family to diversify into horticulture and, in 1984, they took the decision to close the Mill. Over the next decade, the building fell out of use and by the end of 1993, it faced dereliction. However, Leonard Main and his brother Michael - great-grandsons of the founder - came up with a plan to save the Mill by renovating and reinventing it as an art gallery.
The current owners, Michael and Deborah Fox successfully ran the Gallery Café with the Main brothers before acquiring it from them in 2005. Under the Foxes it has become one of Salisbury's most successful small businesses, incorporating the largest independent art gallery in the South West, a gift shop, a multi-award-winning Café and 12 artists' studios, as well as popular crafting workshops and regular arts and crafts exhibitions.
The courtyard has several independent shops which, together with the Mill Gallery and the upstairs creative studios, monthly changing art Exhibitions and offering a huge selection of artisan crafts, jewellery, and homewares.
Information Source:
44386
The Grade II * Listed Fisherton Mill Gallery and Café a converted Victorian grain mill in the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire.
The building dates from 1880, when it was built as a grain mill for William Main & Sons Ltd. Even today, the Mill's high ceilings, original pillars and cast-iron beams stand testament to its proud heritage as a working building.
William Main had the Mill built on Fisherton Street to be conveniently situated on the Market House railway siding from the station to the Market House (now the Cities Library). The stables used to house horses and carts are now Fisherton Mill's artists' studios.
When William died, his son Leonard inherited the business. His tenure was interrupted by the 1914 - 1918 war, when the War Department requisitioned the Mill as bonded warehousing for the Australian Army. From 1920 through to 1950, the business flourished, with Leonard's son Ronald taking over in the 1960s.
Rapid mechanisation and new farming methods led the Main family to diversify into horticulture and, in 1984, they took the decision to close the Mill. Over the next decade, the building fell out of use and by the end of 1993, it faced dereliction. However, Leonard Main and his brother Michael - great-grandsons of the founder - came up with a plan to save the Mill by renovating and reinventing it as an art gallery.
The current owners, Michael and Deborah Fox successfully ran the Gallery Café with the Main brothers before acquiring it from them in 2005. Under the Foxes it has become one of Salisbury's most successful small businesses, incorporating the largest independent art gallery in the South West, a gift shop, a multi-award-winning Café and 12 artists' studios, as well as popular crafting workshops and regular arts and crafts exhibitions.
The courtyard has several independent shops which, together with the Mill Gallery and the upstairs creative studios, monthly changing art Exhibitions and offering a huge selection of artisan crafts, jewellery, and homewares.
Information Source: