Abbey Mill

This is a watermill, dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, with alterations made in the 19th century. It is a timber-framed structure, clad in weatherboarding, and has a roof of handmade red plain tiles. The mill is a single range, approximately 39 metres long, and is aligned east-west. It incorporates a cottage with an axial stack, a gig-house, and stables at the eastern end. A mid-19th century lean-to engine-house, built of red brick in Flemish bond and roofed with slate, is located near the middle of the north side, with a chimney to the north of it. A single-storey lean-to extension, roofed with corrugated iron, adjoins the eastern end. The mill has two storeys and a loft floor within a gambrel roof. The south elevation features six early 19th century fixed lights and one horizontal sash, with small panes, on the ground floor, alongside one late 19th century four-light sash window. The first floor has twelve 19th century casements and a continuous line of twenty-two early 19th century fixed lights and casements, much of the glass being handmade, with some panes tinted green. Six skylights are also present. The building has plain boarded doors on both the ground and first floors, along with a 19th century four-panel flush door to the cottage, double vehicle doors, and a halved door for the gig-house and stable. The roof is half-hipped, and a wrought iron weathervane, topped with a gilt fish, is positioned at the western end. Numerous screw-bolted knees reinforce the timber frame. The chimney has square first and second stages, becoming round above. An inscription 'B.A. Feb. 26, 1857' is carved into the first stage (likely referring to Robert Bridge Appleford), and arched recesses are found on each side of the second stage. A breast-shot water wheel measures 3.84 metres in diameter and has iron paddles. The sluice gates were renewed around 1977. Inside, there are four pairs of French burr stones. The cast iron pit wheel bears the inscription 'A. Clubb, millwright, 1840' (of Colchester). The mill mechanism was complete and operational in 1987, including all associated equipment, as described by H. Benham in Some Essex Water Mills (1976). The site has a history of being used for fulling. Although the mill’s original purpose remains unknown, it was opened as a silk-throwing mill in 1820 for John Hall, previously of Coventry. In 1839, this business moved to the Gravel Factory in West Street, Coggeshall, and the mill was purchased by the Appleford family and converted for corn-grinding. Many of the windows date from the Hall period, but no trace of the original silk-working equipment remains. The Appleford family used the mill commercially until 1960, introducing steam power in 1857 or earlier. The steam engine and associated equipment have since been removed, and the chimney has been shortened.