King's Mill

King's Mill

A water-powered corn mill built in 1829, constructed from Marnhull limestone rubble with a slate roof. The mill stands on the east side of the River Stour with a rectangular footprint orientated east-west.

The mill is a two-storey building with an attic beneath a pitched roof. The east gable features a central double-height doorway and a taking-in door in the attic. The south elevation has four window bays, mostly with segmental arched heads; the windows are modern timber-framed replacements. Foundations of the previous building are visible around the base. The north elevation has an off-centre doorway with a single ground- and first-floor window on either side. Markings at first-floor level indicate there was once a pitched structure attached here, and openings with iron rods show that mechanical processes once extended beyond the main range. The west gable is blind except for a three-light casement in the attic. Irregularities toward the base of the masonry suggest alteration, rebuilding, or incorporation of earlier fabric, including large blocks of dressed stone, recessed sections, and a rubble relieving arch. Remnants of the water wheel survive at the base of the west elevation: the iron primary wheel shaft, wheel hub, and rim-wheel shaft, though most of the timberwork has been lost.

The mill originally operated with a breast-shot water wheel on the west elevation, fed by a headrace leat from the north. The millpond lies to the north-west, separated from the leat by a sluice gate. In the late 1920s or early 1930s, the land between the weir spillway and sluice gates was breached, diverting river flow from the headrace into the millpond. The eastern retaining wall of the leat has been truncated to the north of the mill.

Internally, the mill has an iron framework of cylindrical cast iron posts supporting deep chamfered cross beams with closely-spaced joists to timber plank upper floors. A steep open-riser stair rises adjacent to the south elevation. The roof structure consists of three collar trusses with two tiers of butt purlins and coupled rafters, with a vertical ridge piece probably inserted during 1990s restoration.

The milling process operated over three floors using gravity. The loft, or bin floor, had a raised central walkway with sunken grain storage bins and chutes along either side, served by an external sack hoist driven indirectly by the waterwheel. The floor contains various apertures for transferring material and housing moving parts, with timbers attached to the roof structure providing a framework for machinery.

On the stone floor below, grain was transferred from the loft through timber chutes with canvas funnels to three pairs of under-driven millstones enclosed in circular timber tuns; two survive and the third is partially dismantled. The principal elements of the driving mechanism remain. A block of masonry in the west gable is inscribed '1799'. Various timber frameworks and apertures are present in the floor.

The ground floor, or meal floor, retains much of the driving machinery and gearing, including the wheelshaft, iron pitwheel, the gearing to the drive shaft (wallower) and spurwheel. A Hurst frame supports and encloses the machinery. Meal was passed through chutes to the stone floor for bagging. An enclosed section at the eastern end forms a small office. The floor is largely laid with flagstones with occasional brick sections.

Running parallel with the west gable is a rubble retaining wall forming the headrace leat from the river and supporting the waterwheel. Sluice gates between the leat and millpond survive at the northern end. A second section of retaining wall adjoins the north-west corner of the mill, supporting a paved platform in front of the north elevation. This is presumed to have been truncated to the north, having once extended to form the east side of the headrace. Both wall sections were partially rebuilt in the 1990s.