I love the oldwirral.com site - it's extremely well done and so informative. Congratulations. My challenge:
Thanks to a fellow researcher, I have the will of a Thomas Spark of Eastham, who in 1591 leaves his "dwelling house and appurtenance the milne called Estam milne" to his son Thomas.
In his turn, in 1624, son Thomas left to his son Robert: "all my house Messuages or Tenements and all and singular, houses, edifices, buildings, gardens, orchards, yards, lands, tenements, hereditaments and appurtenances together with my wyndie come milne and all and singular that appurtenants together also with my Indenture of Lease of and concerning the same house messuage milne and premises". There was a proviso that his wife Margery be the "chief ruler" of the mill, and retain profits from it.
I am having trouble locating any information about it: where it was? when it was built? who built it? etc. Some husbandry items were also part of the wills, eg a team of oxen, carts, ploughs, etc. After this I descend from a younger son who worked land in Poulton & Spital & Bebington - separately, (and then other Sparks who farmed land in Prenton/Oxton ie Woodchurch in the 17th century and then Brimstage, Thornton Grange and Storeton in the 18th and 19th centuries) so I don't know what became of the mill. It's not listed in "Windmills of Wirral". I considered the Bromborough windmill but it wasn't built until the early 1700s so too late.
Ideally I'd like to go even further back - before the parish records began, to find out how long there were Sparks there and how they came to be there, but I wouldn't know where to begin as I live some 200 miles away
Very many thanks for any help you can give
Fiona
PS the info about the later Sparks is a little by-the-by, but I will be following up which farms they had etc, so any pointers on this also welcome
A John Sparks was a tenant farmer in New Ferry ,Bebington in the Tithe Lists of1844. He farmed quite a large area of land from the present-day A41 down to the River Mersey. Dairy farm I believe as the area was actually known as the
Pastures on some maps. He also had another couple of fields further towards Tranmere . Your mill could still be the
Bromborough Mill or another one very near to it ! There is an expert on Bromborough & Eastham History who
I believe might be able to help you more. She is Miss Susan Nicholson of The Bromborough Society. She is NOT
on E.Mail however . There are many records available to us about this area via the Parish Registers of Bebington
St Andrews and Bromborough , St.Barnabas . These would be 16th and 17 th Cents . The Cheshire Sheaf may well
have carried entries about the family and Mills . Think this is now available to search on-line. Certainly the various
parish records are probably digitised now via Cheshire Diocese site . Cheshire Records office in Chester city centre
could give you the names of some sites to search . Takes time and patience but it could be done I think.
Roy Dennett ( Hon.Chairman, Birkenhead History Society.
As a fellow Spark researcher would love to hear of anything found regarding the windmill.
Oh and by-the-by Fiona, also would love to hear anything you find regarding the farms. It's a bit difficult for me as I live several thousand kilometers away.
Have a large image of Eastham Mill. Would need to have an old-fashioned postal address to send you a copy.
My E.Mail address is roy.dennett@gmail.com My home phone no.is 0151 644 9033 . Best Wishes
