The House Mill is a major Grade I

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 I ...

on the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of ...

in Mill Meads, and part of the

Three Mills The Three Mills are former working mills and an island of the same name on the River Lea. It is one of London’s oldest extant industrial centres. The mills lie in the London Borough of Newham, but despite lying on the Newham side of the Lea, ...

complex. The original

tidal mills A tide mill is a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers o ...

at this site date back to the

Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, and the present structure of the ''House Mill'' was built in 1776 by Daniel Bisson. It was damaged by fire in 1802, and then rebuilt by

Philip Metcalfe Philip Metcalfe, , (29 August 1733 – 26 August 1818), was an English Tory politician, a malt distiller and a philanthropist. The Metcalfe family were from Yorkshire of the Catholic faith and Royalists during the Civil war. Family and early ...

. It is one of only four Grade I listed buildings in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

. The House Mill remains the "largest tidal mill standing in Britain", although the water wheels are not in operation. The south facade of the ''House Mill'' displays a coat of arms dated 1776 and the initials "D S B" (which could be Daniel and Sarah Bisson), with forty cast iron wall plates which tie the ends of the floor beams. The ''Miller's House'' was rebuilt in 1995 with a modern interior, but retaining the original facade. The Miller's House and a house on the other side of the House Mill were originally built for the Miller and his family. A Second World War bomb landed on a nearby

bonded warehouse A bonded warehouse, or bond, is a building or other secured area in which dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty. It may be managed by the state or by private enterprise. In the ...

and damaged both houses on 15 October 1940 which were later demolished. The Mill stopped operating and was used as a warehouse.House Mill Tour guide notes

Publications

The following are research papers published by the House Mill (River Lea Tidal Mill Trust Ltd). * ''The Three Mills Distillery in the Georgian era'' by Keith Fairclough (2003) * ''The LeFevre family and distilling along the Lower Lea'' by Keith Fairclough (2003) * ''Owners of the Three Mills (1539–1728)'' by Keith Fairclough (2003) * ''Philip Metcalfe (1733–1818), the MP and industrialist who built the Clock Mill'' by Keith Fairclough (2003) * ''The Bisson Family of Three Mills'' by Keith Fairclough and Brian Strong (2003)

Notes

External links

House Mill website
{{authority control History of the London Borough of Newham Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Newham Watermills in London Grade I listed industrial buildings Geography of the London Borough of Newham Mill museums in England Museums in the London Borough of Newham Tide mills River Lea Flour mills in the United Kingdom Industrial buildings completed in 1776 Grade I listed water mills Mill Meads West Ham