The Chesapeake Mill

The Chesapeake Mill, Wickham

Former corn mill built in 1820 and still standing in working order, although its water power no longer exists. A stone plaque on the building is inscribed 'ERECTED AD 1820 J PRIOR'. The mill is constructed of red brick in English bond with slightly-cambered rubbed arches featuring flat extrados (many now plastered) and other cambered arches. The eaves are brick dentilled. The roof is flat with steeply-formed tiled sides, hipped at the corners.

The building forms a rectangular block of three storeys with symmetrical treatment of the facades. The south front has doorways at ground and first-floor levels, with an overhanging boarded hoist at the top and a window at each side at each level, these being small dormers at the top. The rear has two windows, and the longer west side has two windows and a central doorway at the second floor. The windows are casements and the doorways are plain. A two-storeyed wing extends northwards from the north-east corner, featuring weatherboarding above the stream and brick walls. An early 20th-century single-storey extension with a wide entrance is positioned at the east side. Related to the mill is a pattern of water channels and the remains of bearing supports for the water wheels.

Interior and Historical Significance

The interior contains five main spine beams to each floor, floor joists, roof timbers and most window lintels made from American longleaf pine. These timbers originated from the American warship Chesapeake, a 44-gun frigate built at Gosport naval yard in Virginia and launched on 28 February 1799. The Chesapeake was captured after a famous naval duel with HMS Shannon on 1 June 1813, brought to Portsmouth in 1819 and subsequently dismantled. The main spine beams retain the width dimensions of the ship, and both these and many floor joists are recognisable by their beaded moulding. The second spine beam from the front on the ground floor has rebates for the mast partners and carlings. Many timbers bear American carpenters' marks.

An office on the ground floor features a partition constructed from wood salvaged from the Chesapeake. Some timbers retain evidence of canvas partitions. Burn marks on the first-floor timber are marks made by cannon fire. A timber on the second floor shows evidence of damage repaired during naval engagement, suggesting it came from the quarterdeck. A "ghost" image of a carling is visible on the second floor. The unusual roof shape was dictated by the reused timbers from the Chesapeake's hold, which are therefore undecorated. Deck and ceiling planks from the ship were reused at the sides of the roof under the tiles and bear numerous repairs.

The interior also includes reused beams under the ground floor from a previous mill on the site, reused cast-iron columns, a working turbine from the 1920s or 1930s, and all machinery necessary for the operation of a corn mill.

The Chesapeake was one of four American frigates built at Gosport and served with the Royal Navy from 1814 to 1819, when the ship was sold to Joshua Holmes, a ship breaker in Portsmouth. John Prior, who was preparing to build the new mill at Wickham, purchased timbers from the Chesapeake. The corn mill remained in use until the 1970s.

The mill is considered the best survival of 18th-century reused ship's timbers in any building in Britain apart from the royal dockyards. The survival of old ship's timbers is very rare in America. The capture of the Chesapeake was a celebrated naval action for the Royal Navy and became famous in the United States for the dying words of Captain James Lawrence: "Don't give up the ship."