The Water Mill

The Water Mill

Water mill on Norley Lane, Wonersh. The building comprises three distinct phases of construction. The earliest section, probably dating to the mid-18th century, forms three bays and retains some earlier timbers within its structure. This core was extended by two bays to the west, one bay to the east, and a further range to the north, probably in the early 19th century. A south wing of two by three bays was added mainly in the late 19th century, though with some early 19th-century brick footings. A turbine was inserted around 1885, with minor 20th-century alterations following.

The lower floor is constructed of brick, now painted. Above this, the building is timber-framed and clad in weatherboarding with a tiled roof. The northern section rises to two storeys and attics, comprising the turbine floor, stone floor, and bin floor. The southern section is two storeys, though due to the sloping site only one floor is visible from the east. Windows are irregularly distributed, mostly casements that are either fixed, pivoting, or opening.

The north front features a taller gabled roof with a later gabled pigeon loft to the centre and a lower northern gabled range. The weatherboarding is of early hardwood. The upper floor has three fixed six-pane casements of early 19th-century date, a further one to the lower floor, and an early 20th-century window with leaded lights. The east elevation shows a large gable on the right side with a renewed door in its original opening to the bin floor; the centre houses the turbine. The left side contains two parallel ranges with two parallel six-pane fixed casements and a double door.

The south front has two gables with the ground floor partly of early 19th-century date and partly of later 19th-century brick in monk bond. The first floor is weatherboarded with two gables; the first floor has two early 20th-century casements with leaded lights. The ground floor features a cambered-headed window and door, plus a wide opening to the left. The southern part of the west elevation has one 19th-century casement and one blank opening to the upper floor; the lower floor has two early 19th-century twelve-pane pivoting casements and one blank. The northern part of this front has an early 19th-century chamfered casement and a similar window, with an early 20th-century casement below.

The southernmost mid-18th-century front is now internal due to later extensions. It shows a painted brick ground floor in English bond with a cambered entrance, an old weatherboarded first floor with substantial timber frame, and a half-hipped tiled roof. The northern wall of the south wing is also internal.

Inside, the water turbine of around 1885 is a Little Giant, probably manufactured in the USA by Howes and Ewell. It features a flume and pitch wheel at the centre east on the turbine floor. The turbine floor of the northern section retains some original axial beams. Three wheels are connected to the turbine, which drive the mill stones on the floor above; corn chutes survive in the ceiling. Early 19th-century steps lead to the stone floor, which has three millstones, the northernmost still on runners, and four ends of corn chutes. The axial beams are chamfered with run-out stops. The early 19th-century extension to the west has a frame with long diagonal braces. The bin floor features good quality partitions with diagonal braces.

The bin floor roof spans three bays which are mid-18th century, reusing some earlier components with rafters without ridgepiece, purlins, and four large grain bins and one small one. The roof was extended to the west in the early 19th century with thinner rafters with a ridgepiece. Minor alterations were made to provide a dovecote. The northern range roof has rafters and curved collars. The southern part of the building has a 19th-century scientific king-post roof.

The Water Mill is included for listing as a rare surviving mid-18th-century water mill which retains its early 19th-century additions, late 19th-century additions, and original machinery.