This little mill is a good example of the transition from grinding with horizontal stones to grinding with with more compact, specialised devices.
When flour production became centralised in large commercial mills, the smaller rural ones couldn’t compete, and usually ended up producing only animal feed for local farmers (which had always been part of their business).
Tibberton was still doing this in the 1950s, by which time the water wheel had been joined by an oil engine (now gone), installed in 1926.
Photos are all phone.
It’s not a pretty building, a plain brick two storey affair with an attic, surrounded by falling-down sheds.
It’s also not in great shape - there are several holes in the roof, the largest of which has taken out sections of both floors below.
However enough of the original machinery is still there to see how it worked, which is the only reason for exploring these places.
The waterworks - a long narrow mill pond/race which is now mostly dry, with an overflow to the right.
The water travelled through a short culvert at the end of the pond to an overshot wheel.
The remains of the control sluice.
On the ground floor the main gears are still there (pit, wallower, great spur) in their wooden framework, but no longer connected to anything.
Instead there’s a horizontal shaft running across the front which was turned by another shaft going through the wall into the room next door.
This was powered by the oil engine on a plinth - a winnower is visible through the window behind the plinth.
Mystery objects lying around - these look familiar but I can’t quite place them.
On the first floor the grinding stones have gone, replaced by other devices.
The thing falling through the floor on the left is a grain crusher.
I couldn’t find a makers name but I think it’s by John Wallace and Sons, a Scottish manufacturer.
Many firms made these crushers/bruisers which all look rather similar - there was an identical one, also unlabelled, in a Welsh mill.
On the right is a hybrid corn cutter.
The bottom sieve part was made by J Booth and Son - there was something similar for oat sifting in a mill in Cheshire.
The metal box on top is the cutting bit, made by W S Barron and Son.
Barron, later Simon-Barron was a major manufacturer of milling equipment in Gloucester and had a factory with a nice Deco frontage on Bristol Road, demolished c2007.
Potted history here if anyone is interested https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/docum...&doi=2472817d39f1a63166c658f12d07df4d25303219.
Elsewhere on this floor is a mixing bin, also by Barron, with its outlet poking down through the ceiling of the ground floor.
I didn’t fancy walking around on the second floor, but it was possible to see most of what was up there from below; the top of the grain elevator, some more shafting, and the sack hoist.
Finally where the water came out, rejoining the stream from which it was diverted some distance away because the land here is fairly flat.
When flour production became centralised in large commercial mills, the smaller rural ones couldn’t compete, and usually ended up producing only animal feed for local farmers (which had always been part of their business).
Tibberton was still doing this in the 1950s, by which time the water wheel had been joined by an oil engine (now gone), installed in 1926.
Photos are all phone.
It’s not a pretty building, a plain brick two storey affair with an attic, surrounded by falling-down sheds.
It’s also not in great shape - there are several holes in the roof, the largest of which has taken out sections of both floors below.
However enough of the original machinery is still there to see how it worked, which is the only reason for exploring these places.
The waterworks - a long narrow mill pond/race which is now mostly dry, with an overflow to the right.
The water travelled through a short culvert at the end of the pond to an overshot wheel.
The remains of the control sluice.
On the ground floor the main gears are still there (pit, wallower, great spur) in their wooden framework, but no longer connected to anything.
Instead there’s a horizontal shaft running across the front which was turned by another shaft going through the wall into the room next door.
This was powered by the oil engine on a plinth - a winnower is visible through the window behind the plinth.
Mystery objects lying around - these look familiar but I can’t quite place them.
On the first floor the grinding stones have gone, replaced by other devices.
The thing falling through the floor on the left is a grain crusher.
I couldn’t find a makers name but I think it’s by John Wallace and Sons, a Scottish manufacturer.
Many firms made these crushers/bruisers which all look rather similar - there was an identical one, also unlabelled, in a Welsh mill.
On the right is a hybrid corn cutter.
The bottom sieve part was made by J Booth and Son - there was something similar for oat sifting in a mill in Cheshire.
The metal box on top is the cutting bit, made by W S Barron and Son.
Barron, later Simon-Barron was a major manufacturer of milling equipment in Gloucester and had a factory with a nice Deco frontage on Bristol Road, demolished c2007.
Potted history here if anyone is interested https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/docum...&doi=2472817d39f1a63166c658f12d07df4d25303219.
Elsewhere on this floor is a mixing bin, also by Barron, with its outlet poking down through the ceiling of the ground floor.
I didn’t fancy walking around on the second floor, but it was possible to see most of what was up there from below; the top of the grain elevator, some more shafting, and the sack hoist.
Finally where the water came out, rejoining the stream from which it was diverted some distance away because the land here is fairly flat.
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