Charlecote Mill is a
watermill in
Hampton Lucy,
Warwickshire, England, near to
Charlecote Park and about east of
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
. It is a Grade II*
listed building.
Since the 1980s there has been a full-time business producing flour, and there are occasional open days.
History
The mill in Hampton recorded in the
Domesday Book of 1086, valued at 6s 8d, is thought to be a mill on this site. The present building was constructed, with Charlecote Mill House ( a Grade II listed building) to which it is attached, by the Lucy estate.
["A Brief History of Charlecote Mill"]
Charlecote Mill. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
The earliest reference to a mill on this site is in 1728; it had been in used some time, as significant repairs were made in 1731. It is shown on a map of the Lucy estate in 1736, with the watercourses in the same layout as at present, with two waterwheels. The watercourses were repaired in 1753. A millstone in the present building is inscribed "This bed stone was put in 1806". There were further modifications during the 19th century.[
]
From the twentieth century
By the 1930s the waterwheels, in a poor state of repair, were not in use for milling; animal feed was produced, milled using modern machinery, by a tractor and later by electricity. Waterpower from the west wheel operated the sack hoist. Milling ceased in 1960. In 1978 the west waterwheel was made to turn for the filming of the BBC's adaptation of '' The Mill on the Floss''.[
The owner, Sir Edmund Fairfax-Lucy, sought to rent out the mill: the new miller undertook repairs, including renewing the paddles of the waterwheels and the sluice gates, and in 1981 the building was brought back into use, milling flour, without the machinery of the early 20th century. From 1983 milling has been a full-time business.][
The mill is occasionally open to the public, and private tours can be arranged."Open days"]
Charlecote Mill. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
Description
The building has a T-plan, the main elevation being to the south. The water passes on both sides of the building, with an undershot
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...
waterwheel at either end; the wheels and associated machinery flank the central working area. Each wheel drives two pairs of stones on the milling floor.[
]
See also
* De Lucy
* Cameron-Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy baronets
The Fairfax, later Ramsay-Fairfax, later Cameron-Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy Baronetcy, of The Holmes in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 14 March 1836 for Henry Fairfax, in honour of his fat ...
References
{{Reflist
Watermills in England
Grade II* listed buildings in Warwickshire