User:Apwoolrich/Bridgwater Town Mill

Bridgwater Town Mill is at the end of Blake Street, Bridgwater, next to the Blake Museum. It is fed by the Durleigh Brook, which discharges into the River Parrett through St Saviour's Clyse. It dates from the middle ages and later known as the Lytel Mill, and ground corn for the town.

In 1694 it was converted to pump water from the brook to a cistern under town's High Cross on Cornhill, from where hawkers carried water to the inhabitants. Bored elm pipes were installed below the streets, and numbers were dug up during road works over the years. The work was undertaken by Richard Lowbridge, a Stourbridge ironmonger, and Daniel Dunnett, a carpenter, who was perhaps responsible for the construction of the machinery. They established waterworks at Exeter and Barnstaple at about the same time. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the High Cross was demolished, and the town did not have a proper water supply until the 1870s, when the Borough Council built the Ashford Waterworks.

The mill had a 15ft diameter breast-shot wheel, but very little known about the machinery used. The surviving nineteenth century gearing indicates the mill stones were on the upper floor. The mill was used during the nineteenth century as a corn mill and as a steam sawmill for which an extension was built housing the engine and boiler with its chimney. At the beginning of the twentieth century it housed a firm making wicker furniture, which was an extensive local trade then. It then was used by a local builder, and during the second world war was a distribution centre for Civil Defence. It came on the market in 1987 and purchased by Bridgwater Museum Development Trust as an extension to the Blake Museum. An archaeological survey was done, and architect's plans made to restore the mill and incorporate it into the museum, but it was damaged by fire in 1995 and most of the roof and upper floor of the main mill were destroyed. Part of the roof of the end of the museum was damaged, and a number of the paintings by John Chubb suffered smoke damage and required conservation.

The mill was subsequently bought by Sedgemoor District Council and a safety measure the Council dropped the upper walls of the damaged part, leaving them standing to first floor level. The Museum was transferred to Bridgwater Town Council in 2009 and is managed now by volunteers. They cleared the rubble from inside, and refurbished the roof of the standing portion, so the space could be used as storage for the museums collection of artefacts recovered from archaeological excavations. Later, a wooden floor was inserted over the cellar area of the main mill so ready access to the building could be had from the street.

The Bridgwater Town Council authorised in 2017 the start of a project to restore the main mill to its original profile and also the wheel, and the designs and estimates are being prepared. The work is being organised by Friends of Blake Museum. When finished it will be a valuable addition to the facilities of the museum and the town.

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