Details
SY7083
873-1/9/523
WEYMOUTH
Sutton Poyntz
SUTTON ROAD (West side)
No.97, Sutton Mill
(Formerly Listed as: SUTTON ROAD, Sutton Poyntz, Sutton Mill)
12/12/53
GV
II
Detached house, formerly water mill. c1820. Flemish bond brickwork, with some English bond in upper walling, and rubble plinth, slate mansard roof.
PLAN: the mill is set gable to the road, with the River Jordon beyond its W end, the leat and drive in the bay adjoining the river, and the overflow at the E end emerging beyond the Old Mill House (qv No.95). The lower ground floor contains the wheel and machinery, and entrance, on the N side, is at the upper ground floor level.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and attic, 3 windows, all replacement small-pane casements. On the S side, facing downstream, there are 4 rooflights, and the lower levels have three 3-light casements to slight cambered heads in half-brick. The lowest level has a hatch at the left-hand end, and a plank door to the right. High on the corner to the road is a stone sundial, set diagonally. The road gable has a small vent above a boarded and gabled hauling-way on brackets to stone corbels, 2-light casements at ground and econd floor and a plank door at first floor. The N side is approached by a small bridge over the leat escape, with 3 rooflights above 2 wide-spaced 3-light at first and second floors, with a central door at first-floor level. The lower level has wide segmental arched openings over the waterways. To the left, adjacent to the road, is a gabled 2-storey wing with tilehanging. The W front has a window and door, and the N a loading door bove a wide garage door. The gable to the river has a small vent above 2-light casements; those at first and second floors have boarded panels below, and at the lowest level is a door.
INTERIOR: carefully restored in the 1980s, when it was converted to domestic use. The lower ground floor has some of the original post and beam structure, with some inserted steel, and the very broad iron overshot wheel, which can still be operated; this has a diameter of approx 2.5m and approx 3.5m width, in 3 sections. The stones are not in-situ, and the drive shaft has been removed, but some cogs and framework remain. The upper floors have heavy main beams and many early joists, but the roof is restructured and fully ceiled.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Thomas Hardy, in a letter of 1910 wrote: 'Overcombe Mill (in The Trumpet Major) is a composite picture of Upwey (qv Upwey Mill) and Sutton Poyntz, containing features of both'.
Early C20 photographs show 2 casement dormers to the mansard on the S side. The mill had become derelict, and the restoration was recognised by the Weymouth Civic Society and awarded one of its plaques.
(RCHME: Dorset, South-East: London: 1970-: 362).
Listing NGR: SY7063083739
