Heath Mill House

291/0/10014 17-APR-03

PIRBRIGHT HEATH MILL LANE Heath Mill House

II

Mill house, now house. Early C19, probably built in 1830s and certainly occupied by 1841 Census. Built of red brick with hipped slate roof and two end brick chimneystacks flush with the rear elevation. Two storeys and basement with three windows to front and rear. EXTERIOR: North or entrance front has brickwork in Flemish bond and stone plinth. 16-pane sashes and central doorcase with cornice and pilasters with incised acanthus leaf decoration, six fielded panelled door and two steps. All the other elevations have Sussex bond brickwork. The south or rear elevation has three 12-pane sashes, one similar window to ground floor right and a central doorcase with cornice, pilasters and the upper part is glazed with marginal glazing bars. The east elevation has one cambered casement on each floor and a blank window opening with tiled pattern provided for architectural effect. The west elevation has one casement, the ground floor window a C20 replacement and cambered doorcase with half-glazed door. INTERIOR: Original staircase with stick balusters and column newel post and a number of six-panelled doors. The ground floor right hand room retains the original moulded cornice and an early C19 wooden fireplace with pilasters and cast iron firegrate. The front left side room has a C19 marble fireplace with cast iron firegrate and tiled surround and side cupboards. The rear rooms were service rooms with plainer plank doors. The rear left room has a wooden mantelpiece, later converted to a cupboard, and brick tiled floor with cat and kitten pawmarks. The kitchen to rear right retains the cambered opening which originally held a range, bacon loft in the chimney including hooks for holding the sides of bacon, stone flagged floor and has an internal partition wall with thin timbers including diagonal tension braces. The maid's room was originally above the kitchen and originally had a separate steep staircase and trapdoor. One bedroom retains the original moulded cornice. The basement retains two round-headed alcoves on each side helping to support the chimneystack and tiled floor. HISTORY: "Hethe myll" together with "a little island and a croft of island adjacent" is recorded as early as 1516. Census Returns of 1841 show the current mill house was occupied by this date. In the early C20 personal recollection by a mill owner's son is that the cellars were used as a dairy. By 1929 Lower Mill and the mill house were no longer in the same ownership. The adjoining mill ceased producing flour in 1956.