Haxted Watermill
Encyclopedia
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, close to the border with Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, and is powered by the River Eden
River Eden, Kent
The River Eden in West Kent is a tributary of the River Medway. It travels through the Weald of Kent from the border with Surrey, rising from the source in Titsey parish, Surrey, grid reference TQ 420 551, about 350 metres north of Clacket Lane motorway services, and flowing...
. It is a Domesday site and the mill was mentioned in the will of Sir Reginald de Cobham
Reginald de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham
Reginald de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham, KG was an English soldier and diplomat.-Life:He was the son of Sir Reginald de Cobham by Joan, the daughter and heir of William de Evere...
in 1361. The western half of the building dates to c.1580 and the eastern half dates to 1794. The mill was last used to grind flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
in 1919 but worked until 1945. It was formerly a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
with a turning waterwheel and other machinery, but is now a brasserie and bar.
Machinery
The current overshot waterwheel has a diameter of 10 feet (3 m) and a width of 9 feet (2.7 m). It was installed in about 1830, but by 1972 the 72 iron buckets had failed and were replaced by fibreglass replicas. The bearing-stone for an earlier, undershot waterwheel was found during renovation and this dates to the fourteenth century. In full working order the current wheel produced about 11 hp, rotating at 8 r.p.m.Revolutions per minute
Revolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis...
and driving three pairs of millstone
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
s, through gearing, at 120 r.p.m. The Pit Wheel and Wallower are of the same date as the waterwheel, but the Great Spur Wheel, made of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
with applewood teeth, has been dated to 1580. The mill originally operated three pairs of millstones, but in the later years of its working life one pair was removed.