HER 18448 DESCRIPTION:- Parkwood Lake, as it is now known, lies in the Horsley Valley to the south-east of Horsley Village. The former Hartleybridge Mill was situated at the northern end of the lake. A planning application has been submitted to refurbish the lake for conservation and amenity purposes. Some 80-85% of the lake is silted up and overgrown with trees, weed, reed and rushes. The remaining free water surface area is of minimal depth - 0.3 - 0.5m except during periods of high storm water run-off. It is fed by a stream which meanders through the system to discharge via a sluice at the downstream, northerly end. 18448/1:- The lake is normally 200m long and 35m wide. At the upstream (southern) end are the remains of a concrete/stone sluice built to hold boards that could regulate water levels. At the downstream end (northern) there is a reinforced concrete wall which incorporates sluice facilities for 2 sets of boards and has the date 1932 cast in the concrete crest. 18448/2:- A mill was recorded at Horsley in 1086 and three were recorded on the Manor in the 13th century - it is not known if Hartleybridge Mill was one of these. Bryant's map of Gloucestershire also records 3 mills and the upstream site is likely to be that of Hartleybridge. The Tythe map for Horsley of 1841 describes the area of Parkwood Lake as Upper Mead; Lower Mead being that area downstream of the mill. The name suggests meadow or pasture land. The mill pond and leat are shown separately as they also appear on the 1885 map where the mill, described as a corn mill, is shown at the northern end of the present lake at the modern grid ref of ST841980. Also clearly shown on this map is the former mill pond and the leat supplying it. The area now known as Parkwood Lake is clearly shown as an elongated depression with a narrow tongue extension at the N end. the line of the natural stream is shown passing through it but there is no indication that it was by this time either a lake or pond. The 1901 OS map only shows the boundary where the mill building was and the legend indicating Hartleybridge Mill is also absent but the mill pond and sluice are indicated and the leat is still clearly shown. There is nothing to indicate the existence of a mill or its boundaries by 1922/3 series OS map. The boundary of the former mill pond and leat are still clear but the legend for the former is omitted. Commercial activity ceased at Hartleybridge Mill c.1900 and by 1901 the mill would appear to have been demolished - probably for use elsewhere. There is no debris to suggest a long period of dereliction and currently the location of the mill is purely conjectural. The mill pond has been infilled but its edges are still defined and the floor of the leat is now used as an unofficial footpath. It is clear that serious attempts were made in 1932, possibly before, to create a lake in the area previously described as the Upper Mead. This would appear not to have been wholly successful and local knowledge maintains that there had always been a problem maintaining water to a sufficient depth. Thomas Hanks a broadweaver built a mill near the house he bought in 1801. In 1809 it is described as the mill at Harley Wood and it was bought by Richard Aldridge of Nailsworth in 1810. It was for sale in 1820 with two wool preparation machines. William Ashmead, clothier, apparently bought the site in 1819 but no mill is mentioned. {Source Work 12704.} 2019 - This monument was previously recorded within the Historic England National Record of the Historic Environment. Additional information from that record, formerly held within the AMIE database, is quoted below: “Hartleybridge Mill. The site of a corn mill identified from the 1885 Ordnance Survey map.” {Source Work 4249.} |