Settlements along the Bournes have probably had
watermills for a very long time; although the earliest horizontal watermill
found in Britain so far was found at Ebbsfleet in Kent and is believed to date
from Anglo-Saxon times - about 700 AD 4.
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Simple small mill circa 1600 |
The vertical mill was used from medieval times. They
tended to be quite small and it was not uncommon for a stream to support mills
just a couple of kilometres apart.
The Town Mill and the Benhams
The Town Mill was built about 1780 and worked until 1960; it was
probably a new mill and not a rebuild for when it was demolished in 1967 no evidence of an
older building was found.
The Town Mill was built in the period of Chobham’s affluence, prior
to the coming of the railway.
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The Town Mill shortly before it was
demolished |
‘The stream is dammed and a pond formed just before the
Bourne passes through the centre of Chobham village. The mill standing here is a neat
brick and tiled building of no particular distinction, it is owned by Messrs Benham and
Co. Mr. E. Benham was good enough to provide me with some most interesting details.
The wheel has been replaced by a turbine, but the stone and associated gearing have
not been removed, and as the date of the installation of the existing wheelwrights work is
known — everything was renewed when Mr. E. Benham’s
grandfather purchased the mill some sixty years ago — there
is a rare opportunity of studying what must have been the last phase in water milling gear
before the rollers finally eclipsed and superseded the stones.
The height of water was 11 feet and the overshot wheel an all metal one 9 feet in
diameter and 9 feet wide, similar in all respects to the one at King’s mill Nutfield,
only not so wide. The central shaft and all the gear-wheels are of metal, with oak and
apple cogs. Tentering was on the ‘modern" plan of small metal levers, and the
stone-nuts lifted out of gear on an iron table, handle operated. Incidentally in this mill
the thickened part of the pivot on which the stone-nut fits and to which it is keyed, when
in gear, is called the "pot". As in many other mills, the area on the lowest
floor containing the pit-wheel, the lower pivot of the central shaft, the waller, spur
wheel and stone-nuts (the main gearing of the mill) is boarded off, and entered by a small
door. The small room so enclosed, and rendered so dark as to need a lantern’s light
whenever inspection is made, is called the cog-pit, corrupted in most locations, as it is
here to cock-pit.
The building originally taken over by Mr. Benham’s
grandfather was a small one containing two pairs of stones, one of Peak, the other of
Burr. He extended it, adding a communicating section where previously the mill dwelling
had stood, and in the extension a steam engine was set up to drive a further two pairs of
stones.
The present miller remembers an antique bolting machine that had been in the
earlier mill when it was taken over. It bore an inscription dated 1780 giving the name of
the miller and also of a baker whose joint property no doubt it was. Later it was broken
up, though surely this must have been a museum piece.
The turbine was installed 6 years ago (1930) where the under-shoot race had been.
The installing engineers needed a wall 6 feet at the base tapering to 4 feet at the top,
built dam-wise across the stream, but on commencing to excavate it was found that the
existing dam was of exactly the thickness and wonderfully strong, built of immense slabs
of stone. So the engineers bored the hole for their tube with pneumatic drills through an
impounding wall that was laid down possibly in the fourteenth century. That at any rate is
the date when a mill in Chobham called Hurst mill was conveyed to the Abbot of Chertsey by
John de Hamme and this is presumably the mill that later formed part of the estate
sometimes called a Manor in "tithe deeds" of Aden and passed eventually to Mr.
Benham.
Whilst the work of installing the turbine was in progress an unexpected find was
made among the stones forming part of what was evidently the under-shoot race used before
the mill was converted to an over-shot. Among the roughly hewn slabs was a delicately
sculptured capital of a column, provenance unknown, but of early date and presumably from
an ecclesiastical building, Mr. Benham now has the relic as a garden ornament.’
Mr. Benham’s son remembers the column but has no knowledge of what happened to
it when his parents left Chobham 2.
The Town Mill met with a sad and ignominious end, vandalised until it was unsafe and
then completely demolished. The Benham’s, who were the last family to work the mill,
owned a great deal of property in the area. The first to arrive in the village was
William, who came as a young man from Basingstoke where he had been apprenticed to
Lillywhites at Nathan’s mill. In the registers of 1845 he is described as a baker and
mealman. One of his sons, Frederick, lived at Frogpool House, whence he started a grocery
business in a shop which he built next to his house. In 1906 he built the large building
opposite, which housed a grocer’s shop, corn store and garden supply shop. Frederick
married a Mitchell and had three sons and two daughters, the sons running the now
extensive businesses 3.
Emmetts Mill
This mill site was established on behalf of Chertsey
Abbey and the name of the mill originates from 1572 when Richard Emmett was in
control. The existing mill building was erected in 1701 and is of three
storeys, built of brick, under a tiled roof. The attached mill house is of
earlier date. The mill is marked on John Senex's map of 1729. Edward
Jenkins was the miller in 1783 and in 1819 the mill was part of the Ottershaw
estate and was advertised for sale. The sale particulars described it as having
two pairs of stones and an attractive mill house which were in the occupation of
John Lipscombe. The Water Resources Survey of 1851 states James
Mumford as the miller. In 1874 Robert White took over the mill, and he was
followed by Robert Taylor in 1887. Milling must have ceased soon
afterwards as there are no references after 1900. The frame of the
undershot waterwheel, 10 ft in diameter and 8 ft 6 in wide , and mounted on a 9
in diameter circular wooden shaft, has survived. The machinery was removed
from the mill when is was finally converted into residential accommodation.1.
‘Farther down stream, some way to the East of Chobham,
is, or rather was, Emmetts Mill. This must have been a considerable mill in its time, and
from its isolated position something of a land mark. It now forms one wing of the large
house bearing the name, and against which there is a timber skeleton of a fair sized
wheel. I have particular reason for regret that I never saw the "works" of this
mill before they were removed. My informant at Chobham mill who had that opportunity, told
me it was all the old original wooden stuff, and of so ancient an appearance that he
considers it was worthy of preservation in its entirety. The mill ceased working many
years ago 2.
Hook Mill
Does anyone have any information about this mill about a kilometre upstream
from Chobham?
References:-
1 D Stidder, The Watermills of Surrey, 1990. p 116-117
2 J. Hiller, Old Surrey Water Mills, 1951, p
155-6
3 J Mason, Ceabba's Ham
4 British Archaeology, August 2002, p6
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