Gants Mill is a

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 ...

on the

River Brue The River Brue originates in the parish of Brewham in Somerset, England, and reaches the sea some west at Burnham-on-Sea. It originally took a different route from Glastonbury to the sea, but this was changed by Glastonbury Abbey in the twelft ...

Pitcombe Pitcombe is a village and civil parish south-west of Bruton and from Wincanton in Somerset, England. It has a population of 532. The parish includes the hamlets of Cole and Godminster. The village lies on the River Pitt and other streams that f ...

near

Bruton Bruton ( ) is a market town, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, 10 ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. Much of the current mill was built in 1810 but includes parts of the 18th century building and possibly some material from earlier mills, as there has been a mill on the same site since about 1290 which was originally a

fulling mill 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 ...

. It is a grade II*

listed building 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 ...

, and takes its name from John le Gaunt who owned it in 1290. The mill was owned for four centuries by the Weston family and papers relating to the mill are now held in the Somerset Record office. Most of the machinery, including the grindstones, conveyors, sackhoist and grain bins, date from 1888 and is still used for grinding animal feed and occasionally

whole wheat flour Whole-wheat flour (in the US) or wholemeal flour (in the UK) is a powdery substance, a basic food ingredient, derived by grinding or mashing the whole grain of wheat, also known as the wheatberry. Whole-wheat flour is used in baking of breads ...

. A British Empire turbine by Armfields of Ringwood was also installed. Steam power was introduced in 1883, and replaced by semi-diesel in 1914. The South Somerset Hydropower Group was begun in 2001 and the first turbine, at Gants Mill, was commissioned in 2003. It was turned on by Adam Hart Davis on Friday 23 April 2004. It now produces up to 12 kW of electricity from a 300mm crossflow turbine. The system uses a crossflow turbine made by Valley Hydro of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, and has a maximum flow rate of 495 litres per second. Brian Shingler is the sixth generation of his family to act as the miller. The water garden includes seasonal displays of iris, roses, delphiniums, day lilies, clematis, and dahlias.

References

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External links

Gants Mill web site
Watermills in Somerset Grade II* listed buildings in South Somerset Mill museums in England Museums in Somerset Grade II* listed watermills