Sarehole Mill is a Grade II listed water mill

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 an area once called Sarehole

Sarehole

Sarehole is an area in Hall Green, Birmingham, England . Sarehole, a name no longer used in addresses, was a hamlet which gave its name to a farm and a mill. It extended from the ford at Green Lane, southwards for about a mile, along the River Cole to the Dingles...

) on the River Cole

River Cole, West Midlands

The River Cole is a river in the English Midlands. It rises in Redhill, near Kings Norton, South of Birmingham. After flowing through Birmingham, it passes Coleshill, to which it gave its name. It joins the River Blythe, of which it is a tributary, near Ladywalk, shortly before the Blythe meets...

 in Hall Green

Hall Green

Not to be confused with Hall Green, Wolverhampton or Hall Green, SandwellHall Green is an area and ward in south Birmingham, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...

, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, 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...

. It is now run as 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...

 by the Birmingham City Council

Birmingham City Council

The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...

. It is one of only two working water mills in Birmingham, with the other being New Hall Mill in Walmley

Walmley

Walmley is an area of Sutton Coldfield, England. It is in south Sutton Coldfield, near to Minworth, Wylde Green, Erdington and south of Thimble End. It is approximately northeast of Birmingham city centre...

, Sutton Coldfield

Sutton Coldfield

Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...

.

Built in 1542 on the site of a previous pool. It was once known as Bedell's or Biddle's Mill after the name of an early owner. In 1727 is was described as High Wheel Mill. The current building dates from 1771 and was restored 1969.

As early as 1755, the mill was leased by Matthew Boulton

Matthew Boulton

Matthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...

, one of the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution and leading figure of the Lunar Society

Lunar Society

The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...

, for scientific experimentation. It is believed he converted the machinery for use in metal working. As well as milling grain it has been used for grinding bones for fertiliser, metal rolling (Matthew Boulton) and wire drawing.

J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

 lived within 300 yards of the mill between the ages four and eight, and would have seen it from his house. He has also said that he used the mill as a location in The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

.

It was a kind of lost paradise ... There was an old mill that really did grind corn with two millers, a great big pond with swans on it, a sandpit, a wonderful dell with flowers, a few old-fashioned village houses and, further away, a stream with another mill. I always knew it would go — and it did. - said Tolkien in an interview with Guardian journalist, John Ezard in 1966, before the mill's restoration.

The grassland and grounds nearby host the annual Tolkien Weekend event that celebrates the life and works of Tolkien. The mill is part of the Shire Country Park

Shire Country Park

The Shire Country Park is a country park in the south of Birmingham, England.It is named for Tolkien's ShireIt includes Sarehole Mill, Moseley Bog and parts of the River Cole.-External links:**...

.

As a Community Museum, that is branch museum, of the Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery it is owned and run by Birmingham City Council

Birmingham City Council

The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...

and is open to the public without charge, April - October.

Sources

• Birmingham, page 13, Douglas Hickman, 1970, Studio Vista Ltd.
• Hall Green and Hereabout, John Morris JONES, ed. Michael Byrne 1989
• Here and Then - The past of Our District, John Morris JONES,
• A Guide to the Buildings of Birmingham, Peter Leather, ISBN 0-7524-2475-0

External links

• Birmingham Museums' pages on Sarehole Mill
• Shire Country Park
• Birmingham Grid for Learning - very detailed text by John Morris Jones
• The Guardian 1991 article on Sarehole titled Tolkien's shire
• Made in Birmingham
• Sarehole Mill - Service for schools - Educational teaching sessions and resources at Sarehole Mill
• Sarehole Mill for Kids - fun and games for children based on Sarehole Mill