West Mill

West Mill is an early 18th-century building that replaced an earlier mill and was in commercial operation until the 1950s. It is the only surviving mill in Sherborne and is situated directly on the River Yeo. The mill is a small, square, two-storey structure made of hamstone rubble, featuring two windows on the west side, a pit wheel, and a gable light on the south. There is a raised door leading to the upper floor and a window above a blocked doorway on the east side. The north wall has been rebuilt, and it has wooden lintels and a new roof. The former miller's house to the north has been recently removed. To the northwest, there is a large late 19th-century bread oven with a brick-lined vault, which is all that remains of the building that once stood behind the miller's house. Surviving machinery includes the pit wheel from 1877, a significant amount of gearing, and various mill wheels. Outside to the east, there is a pulley wheel that was used to take drive from a steam engine when the river's flow was slow. The breakwater for the pit wheel and sluice walls were likely repaired in 1877. The mill was recently restored in February 1979 by the boys of Sherborne School, who plan to return it to use as a mill with exhibition space to the north.