James Brindley's family
childhood at Tunstead and Leek
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Brindley's Croft at Tunstead
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James Brindley was born in 1716, at Tunstead in the Parish of Wormhill, about five miles east-north-east of Buxton, Derbyshire, England. The family had a small farm there and later moved to Lowe Hill Farm, at Leek, Staffordshire, when James was about ten years old. He was the eldest of the seven children of James Brindley (snr) and Susanna Brindley (nee Bradbury).
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Samuel Smiles, in his 'The Lives of the Engineers', 1861, notes that Brindley showed an early interest in mechanical work, visiting nearby mills and becoming familiar with the application of the principles and mechanisms for harnessing the power of wind and water to grind corn. According to Smiles, he modelled miniature water mills, setting them to work in small mill streams of his own making.
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