Churchill Forge Mill, situated in the Worcestershire village of Churchill, is one of the last water-powered forge mills remaining in an intact state in the UK and as such is an important example of the industrial heritage of the West Midlands. Part of the site has been restored to working condition and is now maintained and operated by the Churchill Forge Trust. [1]
Churchill Forge lies in the valley of the Ganlow Brook. In Mediaeval times it was dammed to provide a pond, from which a sluice led the water to turn the mill’s wheels. The earliest evidence of Churchill Forge is found in a charter dating from 1238 by which Robert de Hurcote granted Hugh Drugel "the whole land of Churchill, with the advowson of the church and the mill" on Hugh’s marriage with his sister Margery. Robert had paid twenty shillings to the Lord of Hagley for the settlement and a yearly rent to the Prior of Dudley for the mill. It changed hands at various times thereafter, and a blade mill and pool are mentioned in another account toward the end of the sixteenth century.
The Bache family, who were responsible for developing the surviving brick mill during the nineteenth century, had long lived in the area and their descendants still own Churchill Forge. In the 18th century, William Bache (1743-1817) ran the nearby Stakenbridge Forge, just a few fields away, and his son William combined the businesses after marrying the daughter of the previous owner of Churchill Forge in 1796. Thereafter one or other of the family were in ownership, although some later entered the learned professions while keeping a share in the business. [2]
After World War I, Benjamin Bache returned from working in a Stourbridge forge to re-open the one at Churchill after it had been closed due to shortage of manpower during the war. Together with his son Claude he commenced trading as "Benjamin Bache and Son, Spade, Blade, Shovel and Ladle Works". Claude Bache then carried on the business after his father’s death until he retired in 1969. [3] At the head of the steps leading down to the mill, there is still an ornamental gate with the family name in plain block capitals running vertically down the centre.
The forge was used from 1700 onwards to produce edged agricultural tools such as spades, shovels, forks, rakes, hoes, and cultivator blades; it also catered to local industries with special shovels (known as skippets) for the nearby salt workings at Droitwich, and pouring ladles for the Stourbridge glass industry and the Black Country metal refineries.
The main wheel driving the forge machinery in the present building has a diameter of 17 feet and is 5 feet 3 inches wide. It is mounted on an 18 foot cast iron axle which carries two of the original flywheels that once operated trip hammers. There is now a spur wheel which meshes with a smaller one and in turn powers a flat belt that drives various hammers, presses and other machines. A crank on the axle also operates a crocodile shear capable of cutting mild steel. An older wheel dating from the 19th century is 17 feet in diameter, but only 2 feet 3 inches wide. This has an oaken axle and was formerly used to power the furnace blower for the forge and two wet grindstones. [4]
In 1979 a small group, which included some of the Bache descendants, formed a preservation trust which became Churchill Forge Trust Limited in 1981. This has been responsible for keeping the building in repair and the machinery in working order. On various days the mill is open to visitors and can be seen in operation.
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 many material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles, and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills.
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, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving car. Water wheels were still in commercial use well into the 20th century but they are no longer in common use. Uses included milling flour in gristmills, grinding wood into pulp for papermaking, hammering wrought iron, machining, ore crushing and pounding fibre for use in the manufacture of cloth.
The Porter Brook is a river which flows through the City of Sheffield, England, descending over 1,000 feet (300 m) from its source on Burbage Moor to the west of the city to its mouth where it joins the River Sheaf in a culvert beneath Sheffield railway station. Like the other rivers in Sheffield, its steep gradient made it ideal for powering water mills and works associated with the metalworking and cutlery industries, and around 20 dams were constructed over the centuries to facilitate this. At its lower end, it is extensively culverted, but parts of it are gradually being restored to open channels, as part of a daylighting scheme for the city.
The River Eden is a tributary of the River Medway in south east England. It rises at the foot of the North Downs escarpment near Titsey in Surrey and runs initially southwards through Oxted before turning eastwards to enter Kent. After flowing through Edenbridge and passing Hever Castle, the Eden meets the Medway at Penshurst.
The Darent is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames and takes the waters of the River Cray as a tributary in the tidal portion of the Darent near Crayford, as illustrated by the adjacent photograph, snapped at high tide. 'Darenth' is frequently found in the spelling of the river's name in older books and maps, Bartholomew's "Canal's and River of England" being one example. Bartholomew's Gazetteer (1954) demonstrates that Darent means "clear water" and separately explains the other name. Considering the River Darent runs on a bed of chalk and its springs rise through chalk, this is not surprising. The original purity of the water was a major reason for the development of paper and pharmaceuticals in the area.
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is an industrial museum in the south of the City of Sheffield, England. The museum forms part of a former steel-working site on the River Sheaf, with a history going back to at least the 13th century. It consists of a number of dwellings and workshops that were formerly the Abbeydale Works—a scythe-making plant that was in operation until the 1930s—and is a remarkably complete example of a 19th-century works. The works are atypical in that much of the production process was completed on the same site. A more typical example of water-powered works in the area can be found at Shepherd Wheel.
A horse mill is a mill, sometimes used in conjunction with a watermill or windmill, that uses a horse engine as the power source. Any milling process can be powered in this way, but the most frequent use of animal power in horse mills was for grinding grain and pumping water. Other animal engines for powering mills are powered by dogs, donkeys, oxen or camels. Treadwheels are engines powered by humans.
Nether Alderley Mill is a 16th-century watermill located in Congleton Road, to the south of the village of Nether Alderley, Cheshire, England. It is owned by the National Trust, and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is a unique example of a triple overshot waterwheel system, two of which are in working order. It is one of only four virtually complete corn mills in Cheshire.
William Hunt and Sons or WHS is a British brand of masonry tools and other types of edge tools. The WHS 4" pointing trowel is well known as a standard excavation implement in British archaeology.
A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation.
The River Len is a river in Kent, England. It rises at a spring in Bluebell Woods to the southeast of the village centre of Lenham 0.6 miles (0.97 km) from the source of the River Great Stour; both rise on the Greensand Ridge. Its length is c10 miles (16 km). It enters the River Medway at Maidstone.
The River Teise is a tributary of the River Medway in Kent, England.
The River Beult is a tributary of the River Medway in South East England.
The River Bewl is a tributary of the River Teise in Kent, England. Its headwaters are in the High Weald, in Sussex between Lamberhurst, Wadhurst and Flimwell. The valley is deeply incised into Tunbridge Wells red sandstone, with a base of alluvium on Wadhurst clay.
The River Stour has been used for centuries as a source of power. Many different processes were performed by the use of water power:- Corn milling, fulling, paper making and electricity generation. Many of the mills survive today as house conversions, with two of them still working commercially.
The Medway and its tributaries and sub-tributaries have been used for over 1,150 years as a source of power. There are over two hundred sites where the use of water power is known. These uses included corn milling, fulling, paper making, iron smelting, pumping water, making gunpowder, vegetable oil extraction, and electricity generation. Today, there is just one watermill working for trade. Those that remain have mostly been converted. Such conversions include a garage, dwellings, restaurants, museums and a wedding venue. Some watermills are mere derelict shells, lower walls or lesser remains. Of the majority, there is nothing to be seen. A large number of tributaries feed into the River Medway. The tributaries that powered watermills will be described in the order that they feed in. The mills are described in order from source to mouth. Left bank and right bank are referred to as though the reader is facing downstream. This article covers the tributaries that feed in above Penshurst.
The Medway and its tributaries and sub-tributaries have been used for over 1,150 years as a source of power. There are over two hundred sites where the use of water power is known. These uses included corn milling, fulling, paper making, iron smelting, pumping water, making gunpowder, vegetable oil extraction, and electricity generation. Today, there is just one watermill working for trade. Those that remain have mostly been converted. Such conversions include a garage, dwellings, restaurants, museums and a wedding venue. Some watermills are mere derelict shells, lower walls or lesser remains. Of the majority, there is nothing to be seen. A large number of tributaries feed into the River Medway. The tributaries that powered watermills will be described in the order that they feed in. The mills are described in order from source to mouth. Left bank and right bank are referred to as though the reader is facing downstream. This article covers the watermills on the tributaries that feed in below Penshurst and above Yalding.
The River Medway and its tributaries and sub-tributaries have been used for more than 1,150 years as a source of power. There are over two hundred sites where the use of water power is known. Many different processes were performed by the use of water power:- corn milling, fulling, paper making, iron smelting, pumping water, making gunpowder, vegetable-oil extraction, and electricity generation. Today, there is just one watermill working for trade. Those that remain have mostly been converted. Such conversions include a garage, dwellings, restaurants, museums and a wedding venue. Some watermills are mere derelict shells, lower walls or lesser remains. Of the majority, there is nothing to be seen. A large number of tributaries feed into the River Medway. The tributaries that powered watermills will be described in the order that they feed in. The mills are described in order from source to mouth. Left bank and right bank are referred to as though the reader is facing downstream. This article deals with the watermills on the tributaries that feed in below Yalding.
Thelnetham Windmill, also known as Button's Mill is a Grade II* listed tower mill constructed of brick. The windmill is located at Thelnetham, Suffolk, England. It was built in the early nineteenth century to grind wheat into flour. Thelnetham windmill worked by wind power until 1924, latterly on two sails, after which it became derelict.
Patterson's Spade Mill is a water-powered spade mill in Templepatrick, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Initially a flax and corn mill, it was later converted to a paper mill. Ownership passed to the Patterson family, who had been involved in the spade industry for several generations, converting the mill once again.