Bulford Mill

CRESSING BULFORD MILL LANE TL 72 SE (north side)

1/44 Bulford Mill

GV II

Water and steam mill. C19. Mill mainly of red brick in English bond, partly timber framed and weatherboarded, roofed with slate; engine house of gault brick in English bond, roofed with slate. Mill of rectangular plan aligned approx. NE-SW, with road adjacent to SW and SE elevations. 4 storeys and loft. Engine house abutting at E corner, one storey. The mill is of brick on the first 3 storeys, weatherboarded above. The SE elevation has on the ground floor one plain door, on the first floor 2 tripartite sashes of 8-16-8 lights with gauged segmental arches and a loading door, on the second floor 3 similar sashes and a loading door, and on the third floor 4 small fixed lights; weatherboarded lucom with slate roof, projecting from low-pitched main roof. The NW elevation (towards Black Notley) has on the first floor 3 similar sashes, on the second floor 3 similar sashes and 2 small lights, and on the third floor one large and 4 small fixed lights; segmental arch over millrace. The NE elevation has on the ground floor one similar sash, one early C19 sash of 16 lights, and a window aperture with gauged segmental arch, reduced for a small casement; on the first floor one blocked similar aperture; on the second floor one C19 casement of 20 small lights with a segmental arch, and a blocked aperture for a loading door, with segmental arch; on the third and loft storeys 2 casements each. 2 projecting purlins in each pitch of roof. The SW elevation has on the ground floor one early C19 sash of 12 + 12 lights with a gauged segmental arch; and on the loft storey 2 casements. The engine house has in each long elevation 2 cast iron windows each with a semi-circular arch with projecting keystone, and one similar window in the NW gable end; large sliding doors occupy the whole SE end; low-pitched roof. The chimney has been demolished, but formerly stood to the NW. Bulford was a fulling mill from 1804 to 1813, and was then converted for corn. 'In 1882 .... it employed 16 men and boys, .... had 6 pairs of stones, 3 worked by an overshot wheel and 3 by an engine. In 1892 rollers were installed and next year the wheel was replaced by a turbine, after which the stones were used only for barley .... With this roller plant the last miller, Francis Blyth ... was producing flour till 1947.' (H. Benham, Some Essex Water Mills, 1976, 58).

Listing NGR: TL7735520404