Abbey Mill

TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL ABBEY LANE (south side)

9/18 Abbey Mill (formerly 2.5.53 listed as Water Mill at Coggeshall Abbey)

GV I

Watermill. C17/18, altered in C19. Timber framed, weatherboarded, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. Single range aligned E-W, approximately 39 metres long, incorporating a cottage with axial stack, gig-house and stables at E end. Mid-C19 lean-to engine-house of red brick in Flemish bond, roofed with slate, near middle of N side, and chimney to N of it. Single-storey lean-to extension at E end, roofed with corrugated iron. 2 storeys, and loft floor in gambrel roof. The S elevation has on the ground floor 6 early C19 fixed lights and one horizontal sash, all of small panes, and one late C19 sash of 4 lights; and on the first floor 12 C19 casements and a continuous line of 22 early C19 fixed lights and casements; much handmade glass, some of it green; 6 skylights. Plain boarded doors on ground and first floor; C19 flush 4-panel door to cottage; double vehicle doors and halved door to gig-house and stable. Roof half-hipped. Wrought iron weathervane with gilt fish at W end. The structure has numerous screw-bolted knees. The chimney has square first and second stages, round above; on the first stage is an inscription 'B.A. Feb. 26, 1857' (possibly for Robert Bridge Appleford); the second stage has an arched recess in each side. Breast-shot wheel 3.84 metres in diameter with iron paddles. Sluice gates renewed c.1977. 4 pairs of French burr stones. Cast iron pit wheel embossed with 'A. Clubb, millwright, 1840' (of Colchester). Mechanism complete and in working order in 1987, with all ancillary equipment, fully described by H. Benham in Some Essex Water Mills, 1976, 62-4. There is a history of fulling on this site. It is not known whether the present mill was originally built for fulling, but from 1820 it was opened as a silk-throwing mill for John Hall, formerly of Coventry. In 1839 this business was transferred to the Gravel Factory in West Street, Coggeshall, and the mill was bought by the Appleford family and converted to corn-grinding. Many of the windows date from the Hall period, but there is no trace of the working equipment. The mill remained in commercial use by the Appleford family until 1960, adapted for steam in 1857 or earlier. The steam engine and related equipment has been removed, and the height of the chimney has been reduced.

Listing NGR: TL8554622145