Summary

Great Bardfield water mill, 19th century. Damaged by fire in 1993, brick and flint remains and bridge survive.

Full description

HE amended listing Dec 2022. Despite the severe fire damage to the timber elements of Great Bardfield mill, the brick and flint remains of the building and the adjacent bridge survive and continue to demonstrate the unusual combination of milling technology, a characteristic that contributed to the mills more than special interest when first listed. The remains of the mill and bridge also hold a strong functional group value with the listed Mill House and stable block. Consequently it is considered that Great Bardfield Mill continues to be of special interest and should remain on the list but due to the loss of original fabric should now be listed at Grade II rather than II*

Great Bardfield water mill, 19th century. <1> A complete wheel-driven stone mill and turbine and engine-driven roller mill under the same roof. Equipment still intact except the engine which has gone. Suggested that the engine was principal power for the roller mill. A 1922 directory lists Bardfield Mill as steam, water and wind but there is no trace of fixed steam plant and one of the earliest oil engines is remembered. Perhaps any engine power was classed as steam. There is a stone mill driven by a powerful iron wheel, on the first floor are 4 roller mills, on the second floor 2 wire dressing machines and a purifier, on the third floor a "big four unit plansifter". "It must have been a wonderfully ambitious project when it was carried out around 1890". Remains complete and in working order. Old stone mill evidently not altered when the turbine mill was added. Mills belonged to the Smith family as far back as the 1840s. The last Smith to own it died in 1950. Owner in 1975 was concerned to preserve it. <2> Water mill and bridge, early 19th century. Mill timber-framed and weather boarded. Complete with 3 pairs of stones, all working machinery. Bridge is red brick with east wall of flint rubble and red brick spanning tail race. <4>

Site Assessment = "It is….the most remarkable mill in Essex to the industrial archaeologist" as it has a wheel-driven stone mill and turbine and engine-driven roller mill under the same roof. Owner is "full of hope and concern for the preservation of this precious possession. Floors need renewing and the roof some minor maintenance but generally the mill itself, like the machinery it contains, is in good condition". <2> "There can be few more interesting examples of a C19 country mill in Great Britain". <3>

Great Barfield/ grade II / gear in but burnt <5>

unknown, 1988, 94-11 (AP). SEX57584.

Rogers, P, 1993, 501-12 (AP). SEX57583.

<1> unknown, 1960 0nwards, SMR form unknown (DESC TEXT). SEX4.

<2> Benham, H, 1975, Great Bardfield watermill is a unique survival, January 23, p8, copy in SMR (DESC TEXT). SEX5603.

<3> Benham, H, 1976, Some Essex Watermills, pp54-55 (DESC TEXT). SEX5604.

<4> Department of the Environment, 1985, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Braintree, p82 (DESC TEXT). SEX4383.

<5> Pargeter, V, 1980-1990, Watermills of Essex (CORRESPONDENCE). SEX62538.

Monument Types

• BRIDGE (C19, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• WATERMILL (C19, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds

• BRICK (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status

• Listed Building (EH) (II) 1337813: BRIDGE AND GREAT BARDFIELD WATERMILL

Sources and further reading

Images

Great Bardfield water mill, 19th century. © Essex County Council

Great Bardfield water mill, 19th century. © Essex County Council

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.