Spring Valley Mill

Spring Valley Mill is a water mill, later adapted to steam, and is currently empty. It dates from the late 18th century and features a timber frame with weatherboarding. The roof is red-tiled and has two levels, gambrelled towards the road (north) with a lucom at the apex. The ground floor is made of painted brick. The structure has two storeys and a loft, with lower south bays and a lean-to. It also includes a cast iron overshot wheel.

The north face of the mill has arched braces supporting the gabled lucom, with two open lights underneath, a vertically sliding sash window on the first floor, and a vertically boarded door. The south face features a 2:1:1 arrangement of small paned vertically sliding sash windows with moulded surrounds on the first floor, and a 1:1:0 arrangement of similar windows on the ground floor. There are two doors on the north range and one door each on the south range and south extension, all of which are vertically boarded.

The machinery and interior of the mill are complete but not in working order. The overshot waterwheel has a cast iron frame and wrought iron buckets, fed by a cast iron trough from the mill pond. The wheel shaft, pit wheel, and wallower are made of cast iron, while the upright shaft and great spur wheel are constructed of wood. The great spur wheel features the old compass-arm construction with six arms passing through the upright shaft. There are three pairs of millstones on the first floor, complete with cases and hoppers, which are underdriven from the spur wheel below. All tentering gear is present. Above the stones is a wooden crown wheel and layshaft, which drove the sack hoist above and any dressing machinery the mill may have had. The roof space is divided into bins and contains the sack hoist, which could operate through the external sack traps or the lucom.

The mill also served as the setting for the novel "Treasure at the Mill" by Malcolm Saville. In 1796, Robert Deeves was the miller working for Bezaliel Angier of Colchester.