Haxted Watermill is a much-restored Grade II listed

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, close to the border with

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and is powered by the River Eden.

History

The mill was first mentioned in the will of Sir Reginald de Cobham in 1361. The western half of the current building, constructed on the foundations of the 14th Century mill, dates to about 1680 and the eastern half dates to 1797. The mill was last used to grind

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

in 1919 but worked until 1945, grinding meal for local farmers. The last miller was Thomas Stanford whose family had operated the mill for the previous two centuries. Purchased by Mr Woodrow in 1949, he spent the next twenty years restoring the machinery to working order. The mill was opened as a museum of water milling and water pumping in 1966. In recent years it has operated as a bar and brasserie but is now closed. In 2016, planning permission was granted to site three shepherd huts on the adjoining site as guest accommodation for visitors to the mill.

Machinery

The current overshot waterwheel has a diameter of and a width of . It was installed in about 1830, but by 1972 the 72 iron buckets had failed and were replaced by fibreglass replicas. The bearing-stone for an earlier,

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 was found during renovation and this dates to the fourteenth century. In full working order the current wheel produced about , rotating at 8 r.p.m. and driving three pairs of

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...

s, through gearing, at 120 r.p.m. The pit wheel and wallower are of the same date as the waterwheel, but the great spur wheel, made of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

with applewood teeth, has been dated to 1680. The mill originally operated three pairs of French burr millstones. At some stage a fourth pair was added, driven from a shaft off the crown wheel, but this was too much for the machinery and was disconnected.

References

Watermills in Surrey Defunct museums in England Edenbridge, Kent Grade II listed buildings in Surrey Flour mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Surrey {{UK-museum-stub