Former Corn Mill at Durbridge Mill Farm

Summary

A former corn mill, probably dating from the early C19.

Reasons for Designation

The old mill building at Durbridge Mill Farm, a former corn mill built in the early C19 and later converted to a malthouse and cider mill, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* Legibility: the mill building is readily legible, with an opening to the visible waterwheel, which makes its function evident;
* Degree of survival: the mill retains its machinery in situ, which aids understanding of the operation of a small-scale water-driven corn mill.

Historic interest:
* Evolution: the mill shows in its fabric the evolution from a corn mill to a maltings, with the obvious addition of the kilns to the west, and the insertion of openings to the malting floors.

Group value:
* with the early C19 Durbridge Mill Farmhouse, with which it is historically associated.

History

A mill is recorded at Durbridge since Domesday, though the site of the early mill is not known. The present mill appears to have originated in the later C18 or early C19; the two-bay mill building over the mill race is shown (as Derbridge Mill) on the 1838 tithe map, together with a narrow building further to the south-east, beyond the current cluster of buildings on the site. The site was owned by George Cooke, and occupied by Charles Stokes. At this point there was no dwelling on the site, the house at that time being on the present Durbridge Farm, a short distance to the north-east. By about the middle of the C19, the site at Durbridge Mill had been expanded by the addition of a new dwelling, Durbridge Mill Farmhouse (listed Grade II), and its attendant stables. An open-fronted shed and long agricultural range were added later in the C19; in addition, the mill building was extended to either end, its height increased, and a pair of circular kilns added to the eastern end of the range. The house was further extended to the rear. The mill was also used as a maltings, with two hop kilns being constructed adjacent to the building before the end of the C19; and later as a cider mill. Modern farm sheds were added to the site in the later C20, and repairs to the historic buildings were carried out in the early C21, including the replacement of the roof of the stables.

Details

A former corn mill, probably dating from the early C19.

MATERIALS
Local sandstone and red brick; slate roofs.

PLAN
The mill building stands over the mill race and is orientated roughly east-west with a circular kiln at the eastern end. An extension at the western end, beyond the wheel, is slightly offset from the line of the main range.

EXTERIOR
The mill is a three-storey structure in four sections. The principal range, which has a slightly higher roofline and steeper roof than the surrounding ranges, is of three irregular bays. The ground and first floors are built in large stone rubble blocks, with red brick above. The remodelled openings date from the C19 and all have segmental-arched brick dressings. The wheel is enclosed within the building at the western end, and visible in an opening from outside at ground-floor level. The central range has paired windows to each of the ground and first floors, with a doorway and taking-in door to the right. The upper floor is blind, with brick cogging under the eaves. The range to the right is narrower and slightly lower, with a doorway to the ground floor and a window to the upper floor. Attached at its eastern end is a circular brick kiln, dating from the building's use as a maltings, constructed in stone to the lower part with brick above, including for the cone chimney. Alongside it are the ruins of another similar kiln. To the far western end, a slightly offset one-bay square block built in brick to the lower section and clad in weatherboarding above has openings to ground and first floors, and a shuttered opening in the western gable. The rear elevations are less regular: the western block is blind; the main range has a ground-floor opening for the rear of the wheel, with smaller openings at ground and first floors, and a blind wall above; the eastern end is set into rising ground, with a window at each level and a doorway giving access to the first floor.

INTERIOR
The main range of the mill retains its equipment: the iron undershot waterwheel is housed in an internal wheel pit lined in brick. The mechanism, which has two pairs of underdriven millstones, is all in iron, in an iron frame. The upper floor is carried on chamfered beams with runout stops of very large scantling. The upper floors are largely inaccessible but have similar beams. The interior of the flanking ranges are similar.

Sources

Books and journals
Davies, G M, Mills of the River Leadon and tributaries in Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology Journal, Vol. Newsletter No. 7, (April 1966), 30

Websites
'Parishes: Redmarley d'Abitot', in A History of the County of Worcester: Volume 3 (London, 1913), pp. 481-486. British History Online, accessed 02.05.2018 from http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/worcs/vol3/pp481-486

Other
Gloucestershire Historic Environment Record (HER) Summary Report for Area 7382 - Disused corn mill on the River Leadon, Durbridge Mill, Redmarley d'Abitot

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