Many watermills lined the banks of the River Wey, England, from the 17th century, due to the river's ability to provide a reliable, year-round flow of water. These mills chiefly ground wheat, often referred to as corn, for flour and oats for animal feed though many were used in the production of other goods such as paper, cloth, leather, wire and gunpowder. The river was home to more mills per mile than anywhere else in Great Britain.[1] The mill situated at Coxes Lock near Addlestone, Surrey, is the largest. There are many mills on the river's principal tributaries, such as the Tillingbourne, the Ock and some mills on the Whitmore Vale stream, Cranleigh Waters and Hodge Brook. The last commercial mill on the Tillingbourne, Botting's Mill at Albury, closed in 1991.[2]Headley Water Mill, on the Wey South branch is still in business.[3]Town Mill, Guildford still has a water turbine driven generator producing electricity for the town.[4]
National Grid Reference: SU 73966 40750. Now a private dwelling. It is a Grade II listed building.[7]
Wyck Mill, Froyle
National Grid Reference: SU 755 418. Fulling mill, no trace remains.[8]
Froyle Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 76837 42778. Fulling mill, no trace remains.[6] The site is now occupied by a residential development.
Isington Mill, Binstead
National Grid Reference: SU 77471 42805. Now a private dwelling, the former home of General Montgomery. It is a Grade II listed building.[9]
Bentley Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 80219 44241. Also known as Groveland Mill,[10] or Turk's Farm Mill, it was built in 1640 as a paper mill, but was a fulling mill and a corn mill for some time. It is now a guest house providing bed and breakfast accommodation. The machinery was dismantled around 1915.[11] It is a Grade II listed building.[12]
Willey Mill, Farnham
National Grid Reference: SU 81679 45162. A Domesday site and a Grade II listed building.[13]
Weydon Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 836 462. Also known as La Medmulle. Ceased milling in 1909 and the mill was demolished in 1919. During the demolition, an English Civil War era cannon ball was found embedded in one of the walls.[14] Now a ruin.[6]
Hatch Mill, Farnham
National Grid Reference: SU 84627 47054. Also known as Grovelands Mill.[15] Shown on the 1871 Ordnance Survey map as Woodmeadhatch Mill.[16] After milling ceased it became the Farnham Sanitary Laundry. It was then occupied by the West Surrey College of Art and Design[17] and by 2018 was a residential care home.[18] It is a Grade II listed building.[19]
High Mill, Farnham
National Grid Reference: SU 85742 47192. A corn mill until 1900, it then switched to producing animal feed until its closure in 1950.[20] It is a Grade II listed building.[21]
Waverley Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 871 455. Part of the Abbey estate, it was demolished in 1900. No trace of it remains.[6]
Tilford Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 8678 4437. Also known as Wanford Mill. The brick footings and the remnants of the mill race are all that remains.[6]
Nadder Stream mills
Bourne Mill, Farnham
National Grid Reference: SU 85233 47429. Dating to the 17th century, the remaining part of the mill now houses a manufacturing and retail business.[20][22] It is a Grade II listed building.[23]
Little Bourne Mill, Farnham
National Grid Reference: SU 85240 47345 A small corn mill fed by the tail race of Bourne Mill.[24] It had ceased operations by the time the railway was built in 1849 and destroyed in a fire some time later.
Rock Mill, Farnham
National Grid Reference: SU 85714 47333. A corn mill built around 1770 and situated on a stream from Badshot Lea.[25] It ceased operating in 1877, by which time the waterwheel was supplemented by a 10HP Corliss steam engine. A large mill in its time, only the foundations remain.[26]
National Grid Reference: SU 89976 31682. Dated to about 1729, it appears to have ceased working by 1881. Now a private dwelling. It is a Grade II listed building.[27]
Sickle Mill, Shottermill
National Grid Reference: SU 88754 32538. Originally a paper mill built alongside an earlier hammer mill used by a firm of sickle makers, hence the name. An 1895 map shows the mill being used for the production of candle wicks and cord.[28] By the 1920s it had ceased to function and was acquired by the Haslemere Urban District Council and used for various purposes.[29] In 1997 the remaining parts were converted to private housing. It is a Grade II listed building.[30]
Shotter Mill, Shottermill
National Grid Reference: SU 88299 32487. Originally a fulling mill, later a corn mill. It gave its name to the hamlet that grew up around it, now a suburb of Haslemere. It is a Grade II listed building.[31]
New Mill, Shottermill
National Grid Reference: SU 885 324. A skin mill or tannery, later a paper mill. It ceased operation in 1903 and became derelict, finally being demolished in 1978.[29] No visible trace of the mill remains.[6]
Pitfold Mill, Shottermill
National Grid Reference: SU 881 326. Skin mill or tannery.[6] It was later used as a saw mill, with its own narrow gauge railway.[20] The mill was demolished and the site redeveloped in the 1980s.[29]
Pophole Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 874 326. One of the oldest mill sites on the Wey, being mentioned in 1200. By 1573 it was a hammer mill with forge and furnace. By 1777 it had ceased operating. No trace now remains.[32]
National Grid Reference: SU 81203 35723. A corn mill still in commercial operation. It is a Grade II listed Building.[34]
Headley Park Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 8177 3814. An unusual hexagonal shaped corn mill that operated until the 1890s. In 1904 it was fitted with a dynamo to provide electricity to Headley Park House. A fire in the 1960s left the building derelict.[35]
Frensham Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 837 410. A corn mill built in 1876 to replace an earlier mill on the site. It was demolished in 1922.[20]
National Grid Reference: SU 74447 33529. A corn mill on the Oakhanger Stream. Now converted to a private dwelling, it is a Grade II listed building.[36]
Dorton Mill, Selborne
National Grid Reference: SU 750 343. A corn mill on the Oakhanger Stream.[37]
Kingsley Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 78412 37673. A corn mill situated at the confluence of the Kingsley and Oakhanger Streams. Along with the adjacent mill house it has been converted to a private dwelling. It is a Grade II listed building.[38]
Whitmore Vale Stream mills
Barford Upper Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 85389 37791. Originally a paper mill and later a flock mill, it is now a private dwelling. It is a Grade II listed building.[39]
Barford Middle Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 854 379. A corn mill. Demolished and replaced by a private dwelling.[20]
Barford Lower Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 853 380. Also known as the Old Mill, Churt. A paper mill, then a flock mill, dating from about 1800–1835. It closed in 1884 and was subsequently demolished.[20] Parts of the building are incorporated into a modern house.[40]
Elstead Mill National Grid Reference: SU 90356 43832. Corn mill, later used by a company producing worsted braid. It was used as a hospital in World War I.[41] In the late twentieth century it started use as a pub. It is a Grade II* listed building.[42]
Cutt Mill National Grid Reference: SU 914 456. In the grounds of Cutt Mill House, little remains of the mill, which ceased working in the 1930s.[20]
Cosford Mill, Thursley National Grid Reference: SU 91358 39606. Built about 1580. The first recorded owner was Richard Shudd in 1536. Now converted to a domestic accommodation, it is a Grade II listed building.[43]
Silk Mill, Thursley National Grid Reference: SU 919 409. Operating between 1794 and 1849, it was demolished by 1871.[20]
Eashing Mill National Grid Reference: SU 946 438. Both a paper mill and corn mill until 1835, after which it was used solely for papermaking. The wheel was replaced by a water turbine in the late 19th century. It is now used for light engineering.[20]
Salgasson Mill National Grid Reference: SU 965 442. Originally a corn mill, later used as a fibre mill and tannery. The building has been completely demolished.[44]
Westbrook Mill National Grid Reference: SU 966 442. Former tannery, fulling mill, and paper mill. In 1881 the waterwheel was used to drive a Siemans generator making Godalming the first town in Britain to be lit by electricity.[45]
Catteshall Mill National Grid Reference: SU 983 443. Originally a paper mill, later a fulling mill, corn mill, and foundry. In 1869 the wheel was replaced by a Fourneyron water turbine, thought to be the largest ever produced.[20] When part of the mill was demolished in 1981 the turbine was rescued for possible future display.[46]
Unstead Mill National Grid Reference: SU 991 460. A roller corn mill alongside Unstead Lock, it ceased operation in 1906 and was subsequently completely demolished.[20]
National Grid Reference: SU 99596 49263. 18th century mill used for corn and pumping water. It is Grade II listed.[47]
Artington Mill National Grid Reference: SU 994 493. A corn mill that ceased operation in the late 17th century. Situated on the west bank of the river, just upstream of Guildford Bridge. The site is now occupied by a pub. The course of the mill stream is now Millmead Road.[48]
National Grid Reference: SU 998 510. 19th-century corn mill now used as offices.
Bower's Mill, Burpham National Grid Reference: TQ 001 529. A paper mill was on this site in 1733 and a corn mill added around 1879. After paper making ceased it became a corn mill and later it was used to produce linseed oil. All milling ceased by 1910 and the mill was demolished in 1945.[20] The building currently on the site, known as Bowers Mill, was built as a laundry for Sutton Place by the Duke of Sutherland.[49]
Gresham Mill, Old Woking National Grid Reference: TQ 015 564. Also known as Woking Mill, it was a paper mill and printing works, now converted into private apartments.
Newark Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 040 574. A mid-17th-century corn mill, it was used as a paper mill between 1855 and 1859. It closed in 1943 after being bombed in an air raid. It was destroyed by fire in 1966.[20]
Byfleet Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 07288 60684. An early 19th-century corn mill. It ceased working in 1950 and the machinery was scrapped.[20] The mill building has been restored and is now a Grade II* listed building.[50]
National Grid Reference: TQ 061 641. The original mill was built in 1776 for working iron. Replaced by a corn and silk mill in 1829, part of which is still extant. This was, in turn, replaced with a large corn mill in 1900 which ground flour for Allied Mills until 1983. The latter has been converted to private dwellings.[20] The two mill buildings are now Grade II listed.[51][52]
Liberty Mill National Grid Reference: TQ063 646 A sawmill built in 1843. It drew water from the navigation and discharged it into the Bourne Stream. It continued working well into the 20th century. At one time the Airscrew Company made wooden propellers here and later Weyroc used it for the manufacture of chipboard. The site is now a small industrial estate.[53]
Ham Haw Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 072 654. Also known as Whittets Mill. Originally a paper mill built in 1691. It was used as a corn mill until 1817 when it ceased to operate. From 1842 it was used as a linseed oil mill with a second wheel added. The mill was in operation until the 1960s when it was largely destroyed by fire.[54] No trace of the mill remains.[6] The site is now occupied by a residential development.[55]
National Grid Reference: SU 950 400. A corn mill built c.1621. It is now a private dwelling and incorporates the mast of a 19th-century tea clipper as the newel post of a spiral staircase. The mill features in a painting, Sheep Washing, by the 19th century artist, William Hull. It a Grade II listed building.[56]
Rake Mill, Witley
National Grid Reference: SU 951 412. Originally a fulling mill dating from 1577. The mill was used by the artist Neville Lytton as a studio, but it, along with the bulk of Lytton's sketches and paintings, was destroyed by a fire in 1902.[57]
Ockford Mill
National Grid Reference: SU 962 433. A 19th-century corn mill, it ceased working in 1934. It is currently used as a light industrial unit.[20]
National Grid Reference: SU 966 438. A flour mill. Sections of the building date back to the 17th century. It ceased milling in 1950 but continued in use as a warehouse. Now known as the Old Mill, it houses a light industrial firm.[20]
Mill Lane leather mill
National Grid Reference: SU 966 439. A 17th-century mill serving the tanneries of Godalming. It burnt down twice in the 19th century but survived in use until it finally closed in 1953.[59]
Cranleigh Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 04745 39601. A corn mill dating, in parts, to the 16th-century. It is a Grade II listed building. [60]
Wonersh Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 023 446. An 18th-century corn mill, it was modernized in 1885 with a water turbine replacing the wheel. It ceased milling in 1910 and is now used as storage.[20]
Hascombe Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 000 400. Dating back to 1690, the mill ceased working in the late 1890s. Only a few ruins remain.[20]
Snowdenham Mill National Grid Reference: TQ001 441. Built around 1792, it was a corn mill and later a feed mill. Now abandoned but with its machinery still in situ. It was proposed as a candidate for restoration in 1979, but permission was not obtained and the building continues to deteriorate.[20]
Bramley Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 006 447. A 17th-century corn mill on the site of an earlier fulling mill. Ceased working in 1931 and converted to domestic accommodation in 1935.[20]
The Tillingbourne is the main tributary of the Wey and 24 mill sites have been identified along its course.[2]
I do not remember to have seen such Variety of Mills and Works upon so narrow a Brook, and in so little a compass, there being Mills for Corn, Cloth, Brass, Iron, Powder etc.
John Evelyn, 1676.
Brookmill National Grid Reference: TQ 13978 45148. Established in the 16th century, possibly as a gunpowder mill[2]
Friday Street Upper Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 127 450. On the Friday Street stream tributary.[2]
Friday Street Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 12790 45804. On the Friday Street Stream tributary. Both corn and malt mills existed here from about 1579 until closed in 1736. There is speculation that it may have also been used for iron working.[2]
Wotton House Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 11885 46946 No trace remains.
Crane's Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 110 471. Also called Abinger Mill.
Paddington Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 100 472. A corn mill until 1915, it was subsequently used as a watercress store. Converted to private housing by 2017 at latest.[2]
Abinger Hammer Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 097 474. A hammer mill constructed by 1557 on the site of an earlier corn mill. Production ceased in 1787 and, despite attempts to establish a gunpowder mill on the site, the mill fell out of use.[61]
Sutton Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 10143 46105. On the Holbury St Mary Stream tributary. Possibly a 14th-century fulling mill and corn mill.[2]
Gomshall Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 085 478. A corn mill that ceased milling in 1953. In 1964 it was converted into a pub and restaurant. The machinery is still in situ having been refurbished and forms a "feature" of the bar.[2]
Gomshall Tannery National Grid Reference: TQ 083 479. Still in operation into the 1980s. Destroyed by fire in 1992.[2]
Netley Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 079 479. Also known as Shere Mill, it operated as a corn mill until 1907. It was used as a pumping station from 1970. Since converted to private accommodation.[2]
Shere Lower Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 076 479. No trace remains.
Shere West Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 066 477. A corn mill.[2]
Albury Park Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 062 479. Originally a corn mill, it was converted to a paper mill in 1793. It ceased working by 1810 and was then used as a laundry.[62]
Albury Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 05206 47933. A medieval corn mill that was burnt down in an arson attack in 1830. The arsonist was executed for the attempted murder of the miller. Rebuilt in brick and fitted with water turbines to provide power to Albury Park.[62] It has recently been converted for use as offices and private accommodation.[2]
Postford Upper Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 039 479. Built in 1809 as a paper mill producing paper for bank-notes. Closed by 1875.[62]
Postford Lower Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 039480. Built in 1809 as a paper mill producing paper for bank-notes. After paper production ceased in the 1870s it was converted for use as a corn mill. it was renamed Albury Mill in the 20th Century. Also known as Bottings Mill, after its last owners. The last working commercial mill on the river, it ceased milling in 1991.[2] It was demolished in 1996 and the site redeveloped.[63]
Postford House Mill National Grid Reference: TQ039 477. Built in the 1830s after the conversion of the upper and lower mills to paper making. Closed in 1865.[2]
Chilworth Gunpowder Mills National Grid References: TQ 02899 47519, TQ 03509 47900. The gunpowder mills were originally developed by the East India Company from 1625. Divided between the Lower, Middle and Upper Works, it was a complex of up to 14 mills, later including steam-powered mills, and continued in use until 1920.[2] The site of the middle and upper works is now a scheduled monument administered by Guildford Borough Council.[64]
Chilworth Great Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 025 475. Built as a paper mill producing paper for bank-notes. Ceased production and closed in the 1870s.[62]
Chilworth Little Mill Built as a paper mill producing paper for bank-notes. Ceased production and closed in the 1870s.[62]
East Shalford Mill National Grid Reference: TQ015 474.
Pirbright Mill National Grid Reference: SU 942 554. A corn mill and timber mill from the early 19th century. Now converted to a private dwelling but with much of the machinery still in situ.[20]
Heath Mill, Worplesdon National Grid Reference: SU 960 549. Built in 1902 to replace an earlier mill destroyed by fire. Now a private dwelling.[6]
Rickford's Mill, Worplesdon National Grid Reference: SU 965 546. An 18th century corn mill now converted to a private dwelling.[20]
East Clandon Stream mills
Ockham Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 056 579. Built in 1862 to replace a previous mill destroyed by fire. The building is in the style of those owned by the Earl of Lovelace and is a Grade II listed building.[67] It ceased milling in 1927 and remained derelict until 1958 when it was converted into a private dwelling. The owner has subsequently had the machinery professionally restored.[20]
Clandon Mill National Grid Reference: TQ 040 519. No trace remains.[20]
See also
Watermill for the different types of mill and their uses.
Guildford is a town in west Surrey, England, around 27 mi (43 km) south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around 143,929 inhabitants in mid-2019 est. The name "Guildford" is thought to derive from a crossing of the River Wey, a tributary of the River Thames that flows through the town centre.
Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around 30 miles (49 km) southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers 3.74 sq mi (9.7 km2) and includes the settlements of Farncombe, Binscombe and Aaron's Hill. Much of the area lies on the strata of the Lower Greensand Group and Bargate stone was quarried locally until the Second World War.
Shalford is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England on the A281 Horsham road immediately south of Guildford. It has a railway station which is between Guildford and Dorking on the Reading to Gatwick Airport line.
Bargate stone is a highly durable form of sandstone. It owes its yellow, butter or honey colouring to a high iron content. In some contexts it may be considered to be a form of ironstone. However, in the context of stone buildings local to the extraction of Bargate Stone, the term 'ironstone' is often used to refer to a darker stone, also extracted from the Greensand, which rusts to a brown colour.
Elstead is a civil parish in Surrey, England with shops, houses and cottages spanning the north and south sides of the River Wey; development is concentrated on two roads that meet at a central green. It includes Pot Common its southern neighbourhood. Hamlets in the parish, marginally separated from the village centre, are Charleshill and Elstead Common, both rich in woodland. Elstead lies between Farnham and Godalming on the B3001 road about 2.2 miles (3.6 km) west of the A3 Milford interchange.
Shackleford is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Guildford, Surrey, England centred to the west of the A3 between Guildford and Petersfield 32 miles (51 km) southwest of London and 5.2 miles (8.4 km) southwest of Guildford. Shackleford includes the localities of Eashing, Hurtmore, Norney and Gatwick.
Shalford Mill is an 18th-century Grade II* listed watermill located on the River Tillingbourne in Shalford, near Guildford, Surrey, England. In 1932, the mill was endowed to the National Trust by a group of eccentric young female philanthropists called Ferguson's Gang.
Burpham is a suburb of Guildford, a town in Surrey, England with an historic village centre. It includes George Abbot School, a parade of small shops, and the nationally recognised Sutherland Memorial Park.
Albury is a village and civil parish in central Surrey, England, around 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east of Guildford. It is in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Borough of Guildford.
Chilworth is a village in the Guildford borough of Surrey, England. It is located in the Tillingbourne valley, southeast of Guildford.
The River Wey Navigation and Godalming Navigation together provide a 20-mile (32 km) continuous navigable route from the River Thames near Weybridge via Guildford to Godalming. Both waterways are in Surrey and are owned by the National Trust. The River Wey Navigation connects to the Basingstoke Canal at West Byfleet, and the Godalming Navigation to the Wey and Arun Canal near Shalford. The Navigations consist of both man-made canal cuts and adapted parts of the River Wey.
Gomshall is a village in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England.
The River Tillingbourne runs along the south side of the North Downs and joins the River Wey at Guildford. Its source is a mile south of Tilling Springs to the north of Leith Hill at grid reference TQ143437 and it runs through Friday Street, Abinger Hammer, Gomshall, Shere, Albury, Chilworth and Shalford. The source is a semi-natural uninhabited area. The catchment is situated on sandstone which has a low rate of weathering. The Tillingbourne is 24 km (15 mi) in length.
Seale is a village in Surrey, England. Seale covers most of the civil parish of Seale and Sands and the steep slope and foot of the south side of the Hog's Back as well as a large hill which exceeds it – as such is part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Once combined, the flow is eastwards then northwards via Godalming and Guildford to meet the Thames at Weybridge. Downstream the river forms the backdrop to Newark Priory and Brooklands. The Wey and Godalming Navigations were built in the 17th and 18th centuries, to create a navigable route from Godalming to the Thames.
Wood Street Village is a clustered and linear village in Surrey, England with a village green, buffered by Metropolitan Green Belt on all sides. It is centred 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Guildford and is part of the civil parish of Worplesdon, as well as continuing to be served semi-dependently as a chapelry of the Church of England.
The Pipp Brook is a left-bank tributary of the River Mole, Surrey, England. It rises at two main springs north of Leith Hill on the Greensand Ridge, then descends steeply in a northward direction, before flowing eastwards along the Vale of Holmesdale. It runs to the north of Dorking High Street, before discharging into the Mole at Pixham.
Godalming Friends Meeting House is a Friends meeting house in the ancient town of Godalming in the English county of Surrey. One of many Nonconformist places of worship in the town, it dates from 1748 but houses a congregation whose roots go back nearly a century earlier. Decline set in during the 19th century and the meeting house passed out of Quaker use for nearly 60 years, but in 1926 the cause was reactivated and since then an unbroken history of Quaker worship has been maintained. Many improvements were carried out in the 20th century to the simple brick-built meeting house, which is Grade II-listed in view of its architectural and historical importance.
Stoke Mill is a 19th century corn mill on the River Wey that has been converted into offices. It is situated off the Woking Road just north of Guildford town centre. It forms the centrepiece of a small group of buildings that includes the Grade II listed Stoke Mill House.
The Town Mill is a Grade II listed 18th-century watermill located in the centre of Guildford on the River Wey.
↑ "The borough of Guildford: Introduction and castle", in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3, ed. H E Malden (London, 1911), pp. 547–560. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp547-560 [accessed 11 July 2020].
↑ Wardle, Alan R (2003). The Wey Navigation. Guildford: Surrey Industrial History Group. pp.89–90. ISBN0-9538122-2-7.
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