Description:This landscape postcard view was taken at Mayfield, Staffordshire and looks north across the River Dove into Derbyshire. The River Dove marks the border between Staffordshire and Derbyshire. In the distance in the centre almost hidden from view is Alrewas Mills, the Chimney stack is just visible behind the tall tree. On the right there is a white building with two gables named Alrewas House, which stood on the mill site. In later years Alrewas Mills became known as Hanging Bridge Mills.
Alrewas Mills started in 1795 when William Bond started his tape manufacturing business in Morrey, near Yoxall. In 1844 the company moved to Alrewas because of better communications and canal and railway links. In 1865 William Bond’s son Morton bought an old burnt out mill at the Hanging Bridge site by the River Dove, near to Mayfield and Ashbourne. He built a new mill to make use of the water-power, initially known as Alrewas Mills, which commemorated the move from Alrewas. At the time the company was called M Bond & Co. Later to avoid confusion Alrewas Mills became Hanging Bridge Mills after the nearby bridge over the River Dove. In 1942 some of the looms were converted from water power to electric motors. In 1972 J Bowmer & Sons purchased M Bond & Co. Ltd. In 1973 the two companies merged and became known as Bowmer Bond. 1990 saw growth and expansion with the building of a new yarn warehouse and in 1996 a new building for the Weaving Department. In 2001 there was a management buy-out and in 2007 all shares were purchased by two new owners. In 2022 the ownership of Bowmer Bond transferred to an Employee-Owned Trust (EOT).
Bowmer Bond remains at the Hanging Bridge site (February 2023), manufacturing a wide variety of webbing types and Specialist Webbing products for industries in: aviation and aerospace, automotive, safety equipment, medical technology, retail sector and promotional items.
Photographer and publisher: H. P. Hansen, Ashbourne.