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MILL HISTORY
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| A HISTORY OF THE TOWN MILL |
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The Town Mill |
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Domesday Book provides the first documentary evidence that there was a mill in Lyme in 1086, but it is not clear where that mill was located. However, a thirteenth century court record indicates there was probably a mill on the present Town Mill site in 1280. |
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The Late Medieval Mill |
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The Civil War and New Building |
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After the War the town was rebuilt with the aid of government grants and Royalist war reparations of 2000 oak trees, 'for re-edifying and building of their houses and ships, mills and fulling racks for cloth, burnt and lost in the siege'. |
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Borough records show that £25-12s was spent on the mill in 1648, about 13% of the total annual borough expenditure. The mill building was rebuilt and enlarged in stone and oak under a half-cruck roof. The main walls of the present mill date back to this 1648 building work. Power continued to come from the two external overshot water wheels, about 12ft in diameter, on the north wall, with each wheel still driving one set of millstones. Indeed, these wheels may well have survived the siege unscathed. Finally, a Miller’s house was added to the eastern end of the mill in 1661. |
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Eighteenth Century
Improvements |
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Further major changes to the mill building and its equipment were made around the end of the eighteenth century. The roof was rebuilt to provide more working space and storage areas. Some of the oak beams from the 1648 roof were re-used to provide four of the new roof trusses, and one of the existing purlins is engraved with the initials 'BG 1797'. |
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In addition to the changes to the size of the mill building, a new wheel was installed inside the building in the position that we see the wheel today. The interior location was chosen because it was larger than the existing outside wheelpit and enabled the millwrights to install a much more powerful wheel. About 13ft in diameter and 7ft wide, the new overshot wheel replaced the external breastshot wheel and increased the available driving power to about 8.5 HP. New gearing probably enabled the new waterwheel to drive three sets of millstones. The design of the existing vertical shaft and crown wheel suggests they are also original parts from these 1797 changes. |
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The Victorian Mill |
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The Decline of the
Mill |
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Sadly, the water wheel was removed in 1936 and the fabric of the mill was allowed to decay until, by the 1970s, it had become derelict. In 1983 John Fowles wrote of the need to save this historically important water mill. Despite this, in 1991 West Dorset District Council announced plans to demolish and redevelop part of the mill site. Action to rescue the mill then began. |
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Restoration of the
Mill |
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Following archaeological recording surveys, which started in 1992, refurbishment of the buildings began in 1995. The initial phase of renovation included the provision of art galleries, studios, workshops and a café/restaurant. In the last phase of renovation, completed in 2001, the Miller's house was purchased and converted for use as the mill shop, a meeting room and offices. Finally, the waterwheel and the milling machinery were returned to working order early in 2001. |
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The fully restored Town Mill was formally opened to the public by John Fowles on 26 May 2001, when grain was milled again for the first time in 75 years. |
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Further Developments at the
Mill |
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In March 2007 a new hydro-electric system was officially opened at the mill by children from three local schools - Woodroffe School, St Michael's Primary School and Mrs Ethelston's Primary School. The fully automatic system enables the mill to use the renewable energy of the River Lim to produce ‘green’ electricity for the mill and for the National Grid, whilst retaining the mill’s traditional function of producing stone-ground flour with water power. The successful completion of the hydro project was made possible by the vision of the Mill Trustees in initiating the project in 2004, the generosity of funding sponsors, Clearskies Renewable Energy Grants and the EDF Energy Green Fund, project engineers HydroGeneration Ltd who designed and installed the system and a small band of mill volunteers who oversaw the management of the project. The overall cost of the installed system was about £60,000. |
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| This history was compiled from the following sources: | ||||||
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Domesday Book – Dorset - 1086. John Morris
1983. History of Lyme Regis and Charmouth. George Roberts 1834. Lyme Leaflets. Cyril Wanklin 1944. The Making of Dorset – Watermills – Dorset Archaeology Committee, DCC – Undated Pamphlet. Dorchester Records Office – Extracts from Borough Records. Jo Draper 1995. Town Mill Lyme Regis – Archaeology Report. Alan Graham 1995. Town Mill Lyme Regis – Design and Construction Proposals. Martin Watts January 1996. Town Mill Lyme Regis – Archaeology Work in the Mill House. Alan Graham 2000. A Millenium of Milling; the Town Mill AD1000 - AD2000. Alan Graham 2001. Discover Dorset - Mills - Peter Stanier, Dovecote Press 2000. The Town Mill, Lyme Regis: Archaeology and History AD 1340-2000. Alan Graham, Jo Draper and Martin Watts 2005. |
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The
Town Mill |
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