Gaters Mill is a complex of buildings on the River Itchen in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of West End,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. The complex forms part of the Gaters Mill & Romill Close

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

, and includes a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

farmhouse and some cottages from a farm called Black Farm. The boundary of the borough runs alongside Gaters Mill, and the other side of the border is part of the Itchen Valley Conservation Area, designated by

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

City Council.

History

There have been mills on the site since the 13th or 14th century. The timber-framed Black Farm farmhouse dates from the 16th century. The mill had several previous names, namely

South Stoneham South Stoneham was a Manorialism, manor in South Stoneham ecclesiastical parish, parish. It was also a Hundred (country subdivision), hundred, Poor law union, sanitary district then rural district covering a larger area of south Hampshire, England ...

Mill, Up Mill and

Mansbridge Mansbridge is a suburb on the northern perimeter of Southampton, England. The area is named after the Mans Bridge which spans the River Itchen. For a considerable time, this was the southernmost crossing point of the river, before the constru ...

Mill. The original mills were

fulling Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...

mills, but in 1685 the mill - at that time known as Up Mill - was established as a paper mill, belonging to a company whose charter was granted by

James II James II may refer to: * James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade * James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier * James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily * James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...

. The company consisted of fifteen members, of which nine were French refugees, mainly

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s. They were joined in 1702 by another Huguenot named Henry Portal, who went on to establish a further paper mill at Laverstoke near Whitchurch in 1718, and six years later he was awarded the contract for making paper for

bank note A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...

s. The mill stopped being used for manufacturing paper in 1865, at which point it was largely demolished and rebuilt as a

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

. The buildings were damaged in a major fire in 1916–17 and several were replaced. During the Second World War the complex was used as a munitions store and suffered further damage. Subsequently, the buildings were occupied by small businesses and the Lower Itchen Fishery Ltd; in the 1990s the buildings were redeveloped and refurbished for use as offices. The farmhouse, formerly Black Farm, was

on 3 October 1978. {{NHLE, grade=II, desc= 1 and 2 Mansbridge Road, 1 and 2 Gaters Hill, num= 1111935, date=3 Oct 1978 The area around Gaters Mill was designated a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

by Eastleigh Borough Council on 25 May 1989, and this was extended to include the nearby street, Romill Close, on 12 September 1991.

References

Borough of Eastleigh Grade II listed buildings in Hampshire Protected areas of Hampshire

History

See also

References