Another tour around a dangerous old watermill.
There are no inside pictures available for this one, but according to Historic England it’s an “early C19 red brick water mill over River Meese.
Long range with slate roof with parapet gable ends and brick dentil eaves. Two storeys. Segmental arched openings some blocked and others with cast-iron multi-pane window frames.
Boarded and gabled hoist housing cantilevered at centre. Said to contain 2 water wheels and some machinery remains.”
It sounded like it might be worth a look, so I went to see what was left.
Pictures are a mixture of phone and camera, inside ones ordered from the bottom up.
Starting with the waterworks outside, the setup was slightly unusual.
Water was diverted to the mill by a weir down two channels, one for each wheel, travelling back to the river again by two channels rather than a single one, which would have made more sense.
This apparently arose when the second (westerly) wheel was being installed with a second deeper tailrace dug to give more fall.
The water channels have now been filled in and only the weir remains - mill water originally went off to the right.
Beginning with the westerly wheel, this is a large undershot affair, sitting in several feet of silt and mud.
Top and bottom of a sluice controlling the water flow, operated from inside the mill.
Culvert under the road where the water came in.
The wheel turned a standard arrangement of gears which drove, from below, two pairs of stones on the floor above.
The little wheel on the right in the first picture above is the sluice control.
The large wooden wheel on the left also in the first picture looks like a takeoff for some device which has now gone - picture below taken looking down from above.
There’s no flour processing machinery left in this mill except for fragments of what may once have been sieves.
On the other side of the basement is the gearing for the second water wheel.
Sluice control for the second wheel.
It was difficult to get a picture of this wheel as it’s totally enclosed, but a phone pic through a hole shows it’s similar to the other one.
Now one floor up, which is at the level of the road outside, and the western pair of grinding stones.
The wooden bits which guided the grain into the centres of the stones (‘stone furniture’) have gone.
Two takeoffs from the small gear at the top of the western shaft (crown wheel).
The other pair of stones were driven from above by a large wooden crown wheel.
Some general pictures of this floor.
The eastern end, which is a more recent extension, has partially collapsed.
Finally up to the attic, which is a bit of a jungle.
Pulley for a sack hoist just visible above the trap door.
A couple of augers and rollers in one corner.
I doubt many will be interested in this place, but if you are it’s worth mentioning that it’s fairly overlooked and on the edge of an active farm (+ dog), so be discreet.
There are no inside pictures available for this one, but according to Historic England it’s an “early C19 red brick water mill over River Meese.
Long range with slate roof with parapet gable ends and brick dentil eaves. Two storeys. Segmental arched openings some blocked and others with cast-iron multi-pane window frames.
Boarded and gabled hoist housing cantilevered at centre. Said to contain 2 water wheels and some machinery remains.”
It sounded like it might be worth a look, so I went to see what was left.
Pictures are a mixture of phone and camera, inside ones ordered from the bottom up.
Starting with the waterworks outside, the setup was slightly unusual.
Water was diverted to the mill by a weir down two channels, one for each wheel, travelling back to the river again by two channels rather than a single one, which would have made more sense.
This apparently arose when the second (westerly) wheel was being installed with a second deeper tailrace dug to give more fall.
The water channels have now been filled in and only the weir remains - mill water originally went off to the right.
Beginning with the westerly wheel, this is a large undershot affair, sitting in several feet of silt and mud.
Top and bottom of a sluice controlling the water flow, operated from inside the mill.
Culvert under the road where the water came in.
The wheel turned a standard arrangement of gears which drove, from below, two pairs of stones on the floor above.
The little wheel on the right in the first picture above is the sluice control.
The large wooden wheel on the left also in the first picture looks like a takeoff for some device which has now gone - picture below taken looking down from above.
There’s no flour processing machinery left in this mill except for fragments of what may once have been sieves.
On the other side of the basement is the gearing for the second water wheel.
Sluice control for the second wheel.
It was difficult to get a picture of this wheel as it’s totally enclosed, but a phone pic through a hole shows it’s similar to the other one.
Now one floor up, which is at the level of the road outside, and the western pair of grinding stones.
The wooden bits which guided the grain into the centres of the stones (‘stone furniture’) have gone.
Two takeoffs from the small gear at the top of the western shaft (crown wheel).
The other pair of stones were driven from above by a large wooden crown wheel.
Some general pictures of this floor.
The eastern end, which is a more recent extension, has partially collapsed.
Finally up to the attic, which is a bit of a jungle.
Pulley for a sack hoist just visible above the trap door.
A couple of augers and rollers in one corner.
I doubt many will be interested in this place, but if you are it’s worth mentioning that it’s fairly overlooked and on the edge of an active farm (+ dog), so be discreet.
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