The 19th Century
CLUE: The road crossed over the canal - a sign on the other side tells you how. Take the fourth letter from the second word.
Standing in front of the mill, your feet are where the canal used to be! The image below shows where this vital waterway used to flow
Nearby there were also three pubs: The Golden Ball, The Post Office, and The Robin Hood.
In 1839, a man named John Batho was the landlord of The Robin Hood and was named as one of many who was payed off to purchase votes for Radical candidates in the Town Council Elections, one of whom was Peter Horsman, then manager of the Flaxmill.
The Golden Ball was no better, it was seen as the centre of the electoral shenanigans. A credible source, John Shaw, claims that he was taken to The Golden Ball pub, urged to drink and when he refused beaten and stripped. After a whole night without food and water, except for the spirits he was forced to drink. Shaw was handed a polling card and his captives tried to force him to vote for the radical candidates, when he refused he was taken back to The Golden Ball, but was eventually let go.
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