Essex and Pear were both going to kill me if I didn't post what I was talking to them about so in order to avoid my painful death here it is.

Over the summer I have spent a lot of time finding new local things, this place I didn't really need to find though as I already knew it existed having been past it many times. I never really paid it much notice as I assumed it was empty and used for storage, that was until I read that it had been completely restored in the 1980s and had a full compliment of period correct milling equipment installed, salvaged from other defunct mills by the owner.

There has been a water powered mill here in some form for around a thousand years, this present incarnation dates from when it was last rebuilt at the end of the 18th Century. It ceased being an active mill in the 1940s when the wheel shaft collapsed due to lack of maintenance. After it was sold in the 1970s and restored, for a short time in the early 2000s it was used by a local company to mill specialty flours for bakeries in the area, and once a month it was opened up for public working demonstrations. This appears to have stopped around a decade ago presumably on safety grounds, and nothing has happened since.

Starting at the top, and working down.

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Thanks for looking

wow the structure look amazing.

I am not sure if I understand what it was (not asking for it) ... but I very like it

I’d love to live in a mill honestly.

We had an operating mill in a historical village near the city I used to live and it was fascinating to see it in action. They would cut lumber with it, and use the lumber on historical buildings within the town/museum thing. It was really amazing to see it operating with those huge gears, all powered by water.

These almost look like they're from a 90s point-and-click game lol. A really nice reminder of a different period, with many layers of history to it, from the sound of your write-up. A really cool spot.

Posted by SugarRAt wow the structure look amazing. I am not sure if I understand what it was (not asking for it) ... but I very like it

It was a water powered flour mill, the UK is littered with small scale rural mills like this. The big water wheel in the last photo was powered by the stream that runs through it, the wheel revolved which turned the big gears in the second to last photo, which rotated the mill stones in the 11th and 12th photos - the rest of the equipment was used to refine the products before and after milling.

Wow dude. This place rocks!

Noice stuff