Blewbury Mill and associated structure

This property comprises a late 16th-century timber-framed house with an adjoining outbuilding (possibly originally built as a bakehouse), connected by a mid-19th-century structure and with 20th-century additions. An exposed breast-shot water wheel in a brick pit stands to the south of the house, probably dating from the early 19th century.

Construction and Materials

The buildings are of box timber-framed construction with lath and plaster and brick infill. Windows throughout are metal-framed 19th- and 20th-century casements with leaded diamond and square glazing patterns. All roofs are covered with clay tiles.

Plan Form

The main late 16th-century range has a three-bay, baffle-entry plan with a central stack. Stairs are positioned to the south of the stack, and a blocked entrance survives in the centre of the north elevation (the entrance having been relocated to the east end). The house has a rectangular plan arranged over two storeys with an attic level. A broadly contemporary structure stands adjacent to the north-east, connected to the main house by 19th-century additions.

Exterior: North Elevation

The north elevation of the principal 16th-century range is divided into three bays, with broad end bays flanking a narrower central bay. This central bay probably originally contained a lobby entrance aligned with the central stack, but the doorway has since been blocked. The regularly-spaced box framing has brick infill painted white, except for three lath and plaster sections on the east side of the upper floor. The ground floor and a wedge of the upper floor have been obscured by a later brick, pitched-roof northern range added in the mid-19th century (extended eastward in the mid-20th century) and by a pre-1969 catslide roof extension on the southern side of this range, which cuts into the central bay of the 16th-century elevation. The red brick chimney stack is slightly offset to the west and appears to have been rebuilt in the 19th century.

Exterior: South Elevation

The south elevation differs from the north in being jettied, although the bay arrangement and brick-infilled box framing broadly match. The main exception is the slightly wider central bay, which accommodates the stairs and has some bracing at ground-floor level and a high-level window on the east side. A moulded bressumer plate is applied to the east end of the south elevation, apparently a later addition. An 18th-century Sun Fire Insurance plaque is affixed to the central bay of the first floor. Two timber posts have been added beneath the central portion of the jetty for support.

Exterior: West Elevation

The western side elevation of the 16th-century range is partially obscured by a lean-to conservatory on a brick plinth, added around 1970. At ground-floor level the timber-framing has been partially rendered externally, with a pair of exposed posts that have been underbuilt with a later brick plinth. A central window is retained here and a doorway to the south has been inserted. The exposed box framing at first-floor level again has brick infill. The gable has clay-hung tiles (a late 19th- or 20th-century addition) and a central window in its lower half.

Exterior: East Elevation

The gable end to the east is of slightly different form: the timber-framing is exposed at upper level and in the gable, with a pair of wind braces in the corner bays on the first floor. An entrance offset to the south has been added to this east elevation, with a 19th-century doorway set under a shallow, pitched, clay-tiled projection and a circular millstone set into the ground in front of the door. At ground-floor level on the east elevation, a mid-19th-century connecting structure is built against the north side, linking to the separate 16th-century east range.

Exterior: East Range

The range to the east, one bay of which is broadly contemporary with the main 16th-century range, is of a single storey with a pitched roof and gable ends to the north and south. The northern half of the range dates to the mid-19th century, with the roof structure, chimney and brick walls throughout apparently also dating to this phase (any timber-framing in the walls of the 16th-century bay having been replaced). The mid-19th-century northern gable end is weatherboarded, with a taking-in door set into the gable. The south elevation is of brick with a central window. On the east side there is a straight joint in the brickwork, suggesting that the gable was rebuilt and the range truncated; this is consistent with map evidence indicating that the east block in 1839 was attached in some manner to the main 16th-century range. On the west side of the south elevation is a later, mid-19th-century narrow connecting structure with a small window and clay-tiled pitched roof, which appears to have been built separately (probably earlier) from the rest of the mid-19th-century wing to the north.

Interior: Ground Floor of Main Range

The main 16th-century range retains a significant proportion of its timber-frame structure and internal fabric. The ground floor retains exposed bay posts, mid-rails and girding beams to each of the walls, with chamfered and stopped spine beams and many original joists to the ceilings. This area is divided into two separate rooms by a central bay with a substantial brick stack that has fireplaces serving both rooms. The east room's fireplace has a thick timber lintel with a leaded, glazed spice cupboard cut into the north side (a later addition). The brick jambs have niches for inglenook seats and a simple brick fireback. In the west room, the fireplace has a curved brick back with a much thinner timber lintel, indicating later rebuilding or alteration. To the south of the fireplace is a cupboard set under the stairs with posts, a lintel, flanking mid-rails and splayed struts above; this is a later insertion although it appears to have reused early timbers from elsewhere. The floor is laid with red bricks throughout, with a datestone inscribed '1683' set into the floor on the north side of the stack, in what appears to have been the original lobby entrance area, suggesting that the reconfiguration of the floor arrangement was undertaken at this date.

Interior: Stairs and Upper Floors

The stairs to the upper floors (both the first floor and the attic level) occupy the area to the south of the stack in the central bay. These take the form of a timber winder with a newel post, likely to be original albeit with some repair work. The first floor is also divided by the central stack, although the east room has been subdivided into two separate bedrooms with a corridor leading to a modern bathroom set into the area north of the stack. Timber wall posts, mid-rails and corner bracing, along with spine beams and several original joists, are retained and exposed throughout this floor (although the westernmost post supporting the tie beam on this floor is evidently a later insertion).

The attic storey is divided into two rooms. The roof structure comprises four queen-post roof trusses with exposed purlins to the eaves. The upper floors have thin, machine-sawn floorboards. The doors and cupboards in the main range are solid timber replacements of the 20th century.

Interior: East Block

The connected east block retains a chamfered and stopped spine beam and joists with carpenter's numbering marks in the southern 16th-century bay. A substantial fireplace with brick jambs and a timber lintel is set on the north side of the room; this has a later, curved brick back. Given the size of the fireplace, it is probable that this would have had some baking function or possibly was built to serve a larger building which has since been truncated (in the absence of conclusive fabric evidence, this remains speculation). The northern section of the eastern wing was added in the 19th century but has been modernised internally, with a bedroom with an en suite bathroom occupying this section. The roof structure in the attic space above was not inspected, but it is clear that this was rebuilt in the 19th century. The mid-19th-century north wing, which was extended to join the east range, is partitioned to provide a modern kitchen, toilet and a lean-to entrance lobby; no features of note are retained here.

Water Wheel and Mill Features

Set to the south of the house is an exposed and severely degraded iron breast-shot water wheel with a heavy wooden shaft set in a brick pit, probably of early 19th-century date. The mill retains its wheel race channel, a narrow bypass channel and the remnants of a sluice gate. Running to the north-west of the wheel, the lower portion of the wall of an earlier structure remains. The Mill Brook, which feeds the mill, flows in from the south-west, with a tailrace and brick-bounded millpond below the wheel to the north-east. The mill has been mapped schematically; all elements of the brick mill structure to the south of the house are covered by this listing.