When 16-year-old William Pye served as an apprentice here for 2½ years from 1880, Conder Mill was the well-established premises of J.Bibby & Sons (cattle-cake manufacturers, of Lancaster & Liverpool). Pye went on to become a major corn & flour merchant in Lancaster, establishing a business prominent in the city until 2005 when it was taken over and renamed: Bibby Agriculture.

Many Bibbys, particularly in USA and New Zealand, trace their ancestry to the house on the hill, which also hosted Methodist services until Quernmore Chapel opened in 1877. The farm cottages on the left aren't contemporary, occupying the site of the demolished mill. I presume it was once water-powered, as the River Conder passes under the narrow Conder Mill Bridge and a millpond can be seen on the right of the image.