Millmead

Millmead is an experimental smallholder’s house built between 1919 and 1920, with later 20th-century extensions and alterations. It was constructed by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, under the direction of architect W.R. Jaggard. The building reflects attempts made after World War I to address social issues like the housing shortage and explored the use of local materials and traditional building techniques.

The house is approximately square in plan, with two bays, and features cement roughcast rendering on walls made of puddled chalk and earth slurry (known as Pise de terre), covered by a slate roof. A projecting porch built from stone and flint is located on a gable end. The original timber casement windows have pre-cast concrete lintels and moulded sills. A brick stack is visible on the south gable, with a partial external stack on the north. The walls are contained within shutters, approximately 47cm thick, built in layers roughly 10cm thick, with shutter ties placed horizontally at 70cm intervals and vertically at 52cm intervals, and pointed with weak concrete.

The interior retains the original staircase, along with original doors to the upper floor and several to the ground floor. The first-floor rooms retain some original linings of ply on battens, which form square patterning on the ceilings, with one rear bedroom having panelling on the walls.

Millmead is part of a series of experimental houses constructed on Ministry land as a consequence of the Land Settlement Act and exemplifies the Pise de terre method (rammed earth), a technique typically employed in agricultural buildings, and rarely used in 20th-century domestic buildings. Although absorbent, the construction provides high insulation values.

The special interest of Millmead lies in its historical association with early 20th-century experimentation into building techniques, and its reflection of post-World War I efforts to address the housing shortage. The building is also valued for its architectural interest.