Flitwick Mill

Flitwick Mill is a water-powered corn mill with attached mill house, located on Greenfield Road in Flitwick. Built in the late 18th or early 19th century, it was extended twice during the later 19th century, probably between 1882 and 1901. The mill continued operating until 1987 and was restored and repaired in the later 20th century.

The building is constructed of brick on the ground floor, with the southwestern earlier sections built in buff and red brick in Flemish bond, whilst the northeastern section, including the first floor of the southern elevation, is in red and grey brick in Flemish bond. The northeast gable wall and bay of the ground floor of the southern return are built in soft red brick in English bond. The upper floors are timber framed and weather boarded, with the boarding replaced between 1988 and 1993. The building is roofed in slate.

The mill rises to three storeys. The north elevation features a ground floor of three builds of brickwork, with a first floor timber framed in two altered builds, and a gallery and roof of one build. A vertically boarded divided door opens into the original southern end of the mill. Two windows of 4 by 2 panes and one of 5 by 3 panes in timber lights occupy an altered opening. Three 20th-century 4 by 2 light fixed lights serve the first floor. A vertically boarded, divided loading bay door and a weatherboarded luccam with a 4 by 2 light window are also present on this elevation, the luccam having been restored.

The south elevation is divided into two sections: the western part has a brick lower floor with weatherboarded timber frame above, whilst the eastern half has brick lower and first floor with a weatherboarded upper floor. The last bay of the ground floor, built in English bond, was altered to house a steam engine. The lower windows mostly contain fixed small-paned lights with slender moulded glazing bars, some set beneath cambered brick arches. First floor windows feature fixed small-paned lights, with the central window retaining early to mid 19th-century slender glazing bars.

The northeast wall, built of soft red brick in English bond below weatherboarded timber frame, has a small first floor fixed light and a small-paned gable window. The southwest wall carries an external brick stack for a late 19th-century single-storey brick office, which has a small-paned first floor window and gable light. A curved screen wall in red brick links the mill to the mill house, screening the offices.

Internally, the western section ground floor is arranged in 2 by 3 bays, altered and extended by an additional bay supported on posts on brick pads, the entrance post featuring heavy braces and chamfered angles. A similar chamfered post exists at first floor level. The eastern wall has been removed but is supported with heavy chamfered braces at first floor. When an electric engine was later added to the east of the wheel pit, further alterations were made to the ground floor. Floors are laid in broad elm boards. Ladder stairs at each floor lead to a small lobby below the upper floor. The later sections are more open, but feature a rebuilt northeast angle with internal brick walls and a raised floor level, formerly housing an auxiliary steam engine. These floors are laid in narrower boards. Floor hatches exist throughout. The roof is a queen strut design with three sets of purlins, braced to the lower purlins, and the interior of the roof is close boarded.

The mill retains its machinery. A cast iron overshot waterwheel remains intact, with a complete drive mechanism running from the waterwheel to upper level hoists. The stone floor has three sets of stones with covers, one removed, whilst the third stone was latterly powered by an electric motor. A conical timber cage protects the vertical drive shaft. The upper floor has bins positioned on either side of a central walkway. The hoist system has a drive shaft running along the southern section and into the luccam. Timber chutes are positioned at ground and first floor levels. A wooden panelled box on the first floor, with a top-hung flap with vertical strap hinges, houses the dressing machine. A free-standing cast iron Improved Corn Crushing Mill is also present, along with a 20th-century conical separator at gallery floor level.

The mill is a rare surviving example of a complete milling process. Whilst the building is not architecturally unified, having been extended and reclad over time, it demonstrates the continuing expansion and development of the 19th-century mill. The complete water system survives, including a clay-lined pond, waterways, sluices and hatches, the latter repaired as recently as 1982 when the mill was still operational. The archaeological context is intact. Attached to the mill is a mid 19th-century mill house, with an adjacent barn, wagon sheds and former stables. Although these latter structures are considerably altered, they illustrate how the site functioned. The mill ceased trading in 1987 and was surveyed and recorded by Kenneth Major in 1988 and 1993. It is well documented with surviving paperwork and tools.