Sheffield Mill

Water mill. The site of the mill is documented in the Domesday Book, with a building commissioned in 1597-98 by Richard Leech of Sheffield Park. It was restored in the early 19th century and extended in 1869, with minor 20th-century alterations. The building is timber-framed, with the ground floor (and the first floor to the east) faced in brick. English bond brickwork is on the east side, Flemish bond with grey headers and some inserted ashlar is on the south, and the first floor is weatherboarded. The roof is tiled, with a catslide to the west. The north and south sides have 20th-century casement windows. The south side features a blocked door opening and inserted 1920s garage doors.

The interior consists of two bays and retains some reused timbers. A late 16th-century central beam with run-out stops is present, along with old rafters. The mill retains three late 16th-century jowled corner posts, though these have been cut away. A lean-to was added around 1869. The mill is a unique example in Sussex with a horizontal wooden layshaft, dated to 1810-1820, which drives two pairs of millstones with three pairs of wooden gearwheels.

Around 1869, Samuel Medhurst, a millwright from Lewes, extended the building and installed a cast iron overshot waterwheel and a cruciform shaft with a new iron pitwheel. A cast iron wallower was added to mesh with the existing layshaft and hursting. The wire machine, grain bins, floorboards, and wooden steps also date back to this period. The mill ceased operation in 1928. A record of millers dating back to James Diver in 1828 has been preserved.