Mill Dam Forming Road Bridge Over River Ter And Associated Wheel Chamber And Water Pump To The South

TL 7714 TERLING CHURCH ROAD

11/123 Mill dam forming road bridge over River Ter, and associated wheel chamber and water pump to the south

• II

Mill dam and wheel chamber of former watermill, 1767, and water pump, c.1870. Red brick in English bond, abutments of bridge reinforced with concrete. Aligned NE-SW across the River Ter, approx. 40 metres long, with 2 stilted round arches over the main channel, and a smaller stilted round arch over an overflow channel at the NE end. Wheel chamber and pump immediately S of SW end. On SE face of dam a stone tablet inscribed 'J.S. 1767' and a bronze plaque 'Essex County Council 1914'. The mill and associated works were constructed by John Strutt. The mill was demolished by the second Lord Rayleigh, who installed a pump in the original wheel-chamber, to supply drinking water to the village. A cast iron pipe of square section led the intake, through a control valve operated by a bevel gear, to drive an undershot cast iron wheel with 24 curved vanes. The supply of drinking water was piped from a spring at Swan Pond, 250 metres to the S, to 3 galvanised horizontal cylinders bolted through their end flanges to a cast iron chest containing 3 non-return valves. The water-wheel drove a crankshaft mounted on 3 split bearings, and 3 connecting rods and pistons. From the chest the water passed through a domed cylindrical collector and a gravity-operated safety valve to a system of standpipes, with an overflow in Wat Hobbs Lane. This sytem remained in use until c.1915, when it was replaced by an engine-driven pump of larger capacity, required to supply a large military camp. At the time of inspection, March 1985, the waterwheel and pump were complete except for one broken vane, one piston, connecting rod and big-end, part of the control gear, and oil cups for the bearings (G.A. Isted, A Story of Terling, 1977, 3-9).

Listing NGR: TL7711114699