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The Loose Stream sometimes called the River Loose or Langley Stream is a tributary of the
River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of . ...
notable for the number of watermills that it powered in its short length. It rises in
Langley Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...
, flows through
Boughton Monchelsea Boughton Monchelsea is a village and civil parish in the borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The civil parish lies on a ragstone ridge situated between the North Downs and the Weald of Kent and has commonly been called Quarry Hills. The vi ...
, Loose and enters the Medway at
Tovil Tovil is a civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone, in Kent in the South East of England. It is a mixture of residential and industrial zoning, with an increase in commercial usage towards the centre of Maidstone, and more arable use on the ou ...
. The river valley is deep sided, and there is much evidence of the paper and wool trades which once flourished here: the stream has been dammed in many places, resulting in many mill ponds.


Watermills

Lambarde mentions thirteen fulling mills and one
corn mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...
. Camden gives thirteen fulling mills. By c.1715 the Kentish cloth trade has declined, and Harris only mentions two fulling mills and one
paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...
. Owing to the purity of the stream, paper making rose in importance in the nineteenth century.


Brishing Court mill, Boughton Monchelsea

TQ 779 515 The ancient manor of Brishing Court may have been the site of a mill. There is little evidence supporting the claim to a mill, which would have been demolished by the mid-eighteenth century if it existed.


Leg-o-Mutton (Wilson's) Mill, Loose

TQ 762 521 This mill took its name from the shape of the mill pond. It was in the ownership of the Wilson family in the 1870s. In its later life the mill was converted into three cottages, now demolished. The head of water being some to indicates an overshot
waterwheel 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 bucke ...
.


Old (Gurney's) Mill

TQ 760 521 Only the foundations of this
paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...
remain, by Salts Lane. The mill was demolished after the First World War. It had an overshot waterwheel of diameter and wide.Mills Archive
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Loose village watermill

TQ 758 522 This was a corn mill, probably the one mentioned by Lambarde. It had an overshot waterwheel 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, and was working until the First World War but subsequently demolished.


Little Ivy Mill

This mill was attached to the manor of Pymps Court in the sixteenth century. It was then a fulling mill. Later it was a
paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...
mill and latterly a corn mill with was converted into a house in 1912, the waterwheel and machinery being scrapped.


Great Ivy Mill

This was a fulling mill, later a paper mill. The overshot waterwheel was replaced by a
turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...
but the pentrough remained. Papermaking had ceased before the First World War.


Bockingford Mill

TQ 75681 53644 This was once a washing (fulling) mill, converted to corn milling by the mid-nineteenth century. The present building dates from c. 1880 and last worked c. 1892, Mrs Marsham, the owner gave notice to the miller that she wished to terminate his tenancy in April 1891. The mill was extended and converted into a house shortly after. The last miller was a Mr. Wilson, with Tom Bates preceding him. A Mr. Rose, foreman at Little Ivy Mill was one of the first inhabitants of the converted mill. The mill pond was some long and wide, giving an area of . The frame of the cast iron waterwheel, some diameter and wide remains under the building.


Hayle Mill, Tovil

TQ 756 538 This has been the site of a mill for many centuries. The last mill was a paper mill, built in 1808 and was noted for its handmade paper until production ceased in 1987. The mill was bought by John Green in 1817 and remained in the Green family until 2002. In 1905, Herbert Green raised objections to the building of the
Headcorn & Maidstone Junction Light Railway The Headcorn and Maidstone Junction Light Railway was a proposed railway in Kent. An Act of Parliament authorised its construction, but only a short branch at Tovil, opened to goods only, was built. Background Maidstone, the county town of Ke ...
, the extension of the Kent & East Sussex Railway, a short portion of which was built as far as Tovil. His main objection was that the smoke from the locomotives would interfere with the operation of his mill. The eventual granting of the Light Railway Order involved a tunnel which was considerably longer than that which was originally proposed, a fact which pleased Mr. Green, who prophesied that "the longer the tunnel the less chance the line would be built." The mill house burnt down on 20 June 2003, but the mill survived. The house was rebuilt in 2006–07 as part of the conversion of the Mill to apartments. The waterwheel is diameter and wide, being an unusual combination of pitchback and high breast shot, having the ability to apply water to the wheel in two different positions. The waterwheel bears the legend 'F. Clark, Millwright, Ashford 1875'.Mills Archive
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Upper Crisbrook Mill

TQ 756 541 The seventeenth-century structure latterly had a cast iron overshot waterwheel driving pumping machinery, working until the 1960s. The derelict waterwheel survived in the early 1970s and has now been restored, the mill buildings being house converted c. 1975. Both the Crisbrook mills were the property of the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The ancient spelling of these mills was 'Christbrook/Chrisbrook'.Mills Archive
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Lower Crisbrook Mill

TQ 756 542 This late eighteenth-century mill housed an internal water wheel; it was a corn mill c. 1719. It had an overshot waterwheel driving four pairs of millstones. The mill last worked in 1905 and the machinery scrapped some thirty years later. An earlier mill on this site was probably the mill leased by the prior of Canterbury to Robert De Hucham. Only parts of the walls remain today.


Upper Tovil Mill

TQ 7545 5445 This was a fulling mill, later a paper mill. The mill had an overshot waterwheel but was burnt down in 1894. The fire damaged mill was bought and rebuilt by Albert Reed, acting as the founding point of the company that would go on to become
Reed International RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...
. The rebuilt mill was powered by steam. The site of the mill was cleared in the 1980s to make way for a housing development. One of the Tovil mills belonged to Maidstone College in 1525.


Lower Tovil Mill (Allnut Mill)

TQ 7520 5475 This was a fulling mill, later a paper mill. The large overshot waterwheel was scrapped in 1941 but papermaking continued after the war. The buildings have all been demolished and developed for housing. Select "Local History" from left hand menu, then "One wealthy widow, 600 working men"


Bridge Mill

TQ 750 547 Originally a fulling mill, then a corn mill. A
powder A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and '' granular'' are sometimes used to disti ...
mill was established here in the eighteenth century and later an oil mill. Bridge mill was latterly a paper mill, ceasing work in the late twentieth century. The site has been cleared for a housing development.


Tributary

A small stream enters the river at Loose, it powered a watermill.


Watermill on the tributary


Upper Mill, Loose

Originally a fulling mill, then a paper mill, latterly a corn mill with an overshot waterwheel driving three pairs of stones. This mill was in the ownership of the Wilson family in the 1870s. It closed in 1908 and has since been demolished.


Ecology

Located to the south-east of
Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with ...
, the Loose Valley forms the boundary between the urban area of Maidstone and the surrounding countryside. Due to the large number of ponds, the Loose stream and extensive areas of semi improved grassland, it is a haven for wildlife. The water quality of the stream has been classified by the
Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
as ‘very good’ close to its confluence with the River Medway at Tovil. The eastern side of the Valley starts as heavily grazed horse pasture. It then becomes a series of long narrow fields bordered by scrub/woodland on the upper edges of the Valley, which are very lightly grazed by cattle. This section of the Valley is owned by the Loose Amenities Association and is managed purely for wildlife, landscape and recreation. It was designated a Conservation Area in September 2000. The village pond in Loose was recently surveyed and contained a mixture of the following species:
water mint ''Mentha aquatica'' (water mint; syn. ''Mentha hirsuta'' Huds.Euro+Med Plantbase Project''Mentha aquatica'') is a perennial flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It grows in moist places and is native to much of Europe, northwest Africa ...
, meadowsweet, common reed mace,
water dropwort Water dropwort is a common name for several genera of plants and may refer to: * ''Oenanthe'' (plant) * '' Oxypolis'' * '' Tiedemannia'' {{Short pages monitor