Description:Oil painting by John Joseph Hughes. Hughes, who lived at Villa Road in Handsworth, was a Birmingham landscape painter who exhibited at galleries in London and Birmingham. Between 1862 - 1908 he exhibited some 360 works at the RBSA. Although primarily a landsape painter he also covered churches, town scenes and still life. A biography of Hughes from Handsworth magazine is available on this site.
Hamstead Mill is thought to have been the Mill mentioned in the Domesday Book. It remained in use as a corn mill throughout its long history. As late as 1920 one Frank Andrews was still milling flour at Hamstead by water power.