The Town Mill is housed in a very large mill building, spread over four floors. However, all of the equipment needed to produce flour is contained on three of the mill floors - the Sack Floor, the Stone Floor and the Meal Floor.

The Sack Floor and the Grain Loft above it provide storage for both the grain awaiting grinding and the bags of  finished flours.

The miller used a chain sack hoist, located on the Sack Floor, to raise the heavy sacks of grain - the raw materials - up through the mill for storage on the dry upper storeys until they were needed. The sack hoist is powered by the waterwheel and could be operated from any floor of the mill using a rope attached to the hoist machinery. After the grain had been processed, the freshly ground bags of flour were lifted back up through the mill from ground level - the Meal Floor - to the storage areas with the aid of the sack hoist.

The Stone Floor contains the millstones that  grind the grain, together with the grain hoppers which deliver the grain into the stones. In addition, the crownwheel on the vertical shaft transmits power from the waterwheel to operate the sack hoist.

The Meal Floor, at ground level, houses the waterwheel itself, as well as the machinery and gearing to power the millstones. The meal flows down from the floor above, through meal spouts, from which it is bagged and lifted back to the Sack Floor for storage.

Find out more about how the Town Mill works on the next page. 

The Town Mill
Mill Lane, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3PU, England
Tel: 01297 443579     e-mail info@townmill.org.uk