Edge Runner Mill (site of)

Summary

Cider mill 340m SSE of Hermitage Farm.

Reasons for Designation

The cider mills employed various techniques to produce cider. First the apples were crushed to a pulp and the mechanised edge runner mill was a circular trough with a central pivot which supported a second circular stone attached to the central axis. The second stone rolled around the trough on its edge crushing the apples and such mills could be hand, animal or water powered. The resulting pulp was left usually overnight before transfer to a press where layers of pulp were interspersed with straw (this is known as a cheese) and pressure was then applied until the juice was forced out and filtered before storage in barrels. Despite partial excavation the cider mill 340m SSE of Hermitage Farm survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the construction, layout and development of the cider mill, its longevity, social and economic significance, the processes involved in cider production, the abandonment of the mill and its overall landscape context.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17 June 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

This monument includes a cider mill situated on the gentle south east facing slopes of a prominent hill called Bury Walls. The cider mill survives as a buried edge runner mill and other associated structures as a series of earthworks and outcrops of artificially worked bedrock together with the foundations of a buried building to the south east. The edge runner mill was used to crush the apples and the lower stone survives cut into the bedrock as a circular trough with an internal diameter of 1.5m and a width of some 0.3m with a 0.4m central socket for the post which supported the vertical post or pivot of the upper rotating crushing stone. The presence of an outer track for draught animals at a radius of 2.5m indicates this was the mode of power employed. The edge runner mill is known through partial excavation but the other features associated with the cider mill have not been further investigated.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

SA 348

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape 70666

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