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Former location of one of Newbury's mills on the River Kennet, destroyed in a fire in late 20th century
West Mills was one of the watermills in Newbury on the River Kennet. Major described it in 1963 as
driven by two wheels, and dated it to pre 1847 <1>. The gear had been removed, and the building was then in use as a furniture depository <1>.
The mill is marked on many historic maps <2><3><19>; on the late 19th century Ordnance Survey Town Plan <4> it is shown as a corn mill and on subsequent editions as a flour mill <5>. However there is a documentary reference to a fulling mill at West Mills in the 15th and 16th centuries <6><7><8>, and Money believed that a 1205 account of a fulling mill that paid £1 6s 8d in dues to the Lord of the Manor could be identified with that known as West Mills <6>.
The mill was sited across the river about 250m upstream of Newbury's town bridge, adjacent to the cut of the Kennet and Avon Canal, and was approached from the road known as West Mills by a swing bridge.
Many photographs and paintings exist of the mill building in the early 20th century <13> including a collection in West Berkshire Museum <14><15>. It was a long building of over two storeys with a tiled roof. The name Hovis was attached to the weatherboarding.
The mill was destroyed by a fire in the later 20th century (1964 or 1965?), and the site redeveloped for housing, named Dolton Mews.
West Mills in Newbury is included in a list of Berkshire paper mills <17>, with some 18th century documentation.
| <01> | Berkshire Archaeological Society. 1963-4. Berkshire Archaeological Journal 1963-64 61. 61. In ADS Journals. 10.5284/1000017. p83-91 No 75 in Berkshire Watermills by J Kenneth Major. [Article in serial / SWB12042]
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/berks_bas_2007/journal.cfm?volume=61 (Accessed 21/05/2013) |
| <02> | Willis, John. 1768. Willis' Map of the Country ten miles round Newbury, with a plan of the Town of Newbury and of Speenhamland, 1768. 2 inch to mile?. Marked 'West Mills'. [Map / SWB8040]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/50263734041 (Accessed 16/09/2021) |
| <03> | Davis, Cornelius. 1849. Davis' Ten Miles round Newbury, 1849. Ref No 19 'West Mills'. [Map / SWB13949] |
| <04> | Landmark. 1880-81. Digital OS Mapping Epoch 1, 1:500 - Newbury Town Plan. Digital. 1:500. Marked 'West Mills (Corn)'. [Map / SWB146990] |
| <05> | Landmark. 1912-24. Digital Ordnance Survey Mapping Epoch 3, 1:2500 (25 inch). Digital. 25 inches to a mile. 1:2500, 1911. [Map / SWB14456] |
| <06> | Newbury District Field Club. 1981. TRANS NEWBURY DISTRICT FIELD CLUB 1981 VOL 12 NO 6. Scanned by West Berkshire Museum. p33-39 A History of the Water Mills in Newbury Part I by B J Eggleton. [Article in serial / SWB8044] |
| <07> | Newbury District Field Club. 1953-4?. TRANS NEWBURY DISTRICT FIELD CLUB 1954 VOL 10 NO 2. p54. [Article in serial / SWB7123] |
| <08> | Dils, J (ed). 1998. An Historical Atlas of Berkshire. p52-3 Fulling Mill - The Berkshire woollen industry c1500-c1650 by Christine Jackson. [Monograph / SWB13916] |
| <09> | Dils, J and Yates, M (ed). 2012. An Historical Atlas of Berkshire (2nd Edition). p64-65, Clothmaking in Berkshire c.1500-c.1650 by Christine Jackson. [Monograph / SWB148708] |
| <10> | Berkshire Industrial Archaeology Group. 1966-1991. Berkshire Industrial Archaeology Group Gazetteer of Industrial Sites & Monuments. 2023 WBC Network. OG81. [Unpublished document / SWB12762] |
| <11> | Dils, J and Yates, M (ed). 2012. An Historical Atlas of Berkshire (2nd Edition). p92-93, Berkshire Watermills by Brian Boulter and Sheila Viner. [Monograph / SWB148708] |
| <12> | Berry, W. 2009. The Kennet and Avon Navigation - A History. [Monograph / SWB147998] |
| <13> | Hopson, S. 1988. Newbury Then and Now. No 26. [Monograph / SWB13973] |
| <14> | Museum Curator. Newbury Museum Accession Records (West Berkshire Museum since 1998). 2022 WBC Network. NEBYM:1983.29.80-84; 1986.14; 1986.56.15. [Unpublished document / SWB14452] |
| <15> | Art UK. https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks/west-mills-newbury-berkshire-27440. [Website / SWB149492]
https://artuk.org/about/about (Accessed 07/02/2023) |
| <16> | Out and about. 1995. Not Run of the Mill. [Article in serial / SWB13504] |
| <17> | Berkshire Local History Association. 2004. Berkshire Old and New No 21. 21. p19 in Paper Mills in Berkshire - a preliminary survey, Daven Chamberlain. [Article in serial / SWB14449] |
| <18> | The Mills Archive. 2002-. The Mills Archive - Images and Documents Catalogue. http://catalogue.millsarchive.org/. 28/08/2015. 3456. [Website / SWB148900]
https://catalogue.millsarchive.org/ (Accessed 06/12/2023) |
| <19> | 1842. Newbury Tithe Map and Award. Marked, but not named. [Map / SWB14277]
http://ww2.berkshirenclosure.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DD1%2f89%2f1 (Accessed 10/02/2022) |