List of watermills in the United Kingdom

The use of water power in Britain was at its peak just before the Industrial Revolution. The need for power was great and steam power had not yet become established. It is estimated that at this time there were well in excess of ten thousand watermills in the country. Most of these were corn mills (to grind flour), but almost any industrial process needing motive power, beyond that available from the muscles of men or animals, used a water wheel, unless a windmill was preferred.

Today only a fraction of these mills survive. Many are used as private residences, or have been converted into offices or flats. A number have been preserved or restored as museums where the public can see the mill in operation.

Kingsbury Watermill Museum, St Albans

This is a list of some of the surviving watermills and tide mills in the United Kingdom.

The Lesson of the Water Mill
 

Listen to the water mill
Through the livelong day;
How the clicking of the wheel
Wears the hours away.
Languidly the autumn wind
Stirs the withered leaves;
On the field the reapers sing
Binding up the sheaves;
And a proverb haunts my mind
And as a spell is cast,
"The mill will never grind
With the water that has passed."

 

Sarah Doudney,


 

See yon our little mill that clacks
so busy by the brook,
She has ground her corn and paid her tax
ever since Domesday Book.

 

Rudyard Kipling,

England

Bedfordshire

Stotfold Mill, Bedfordshire

Berkshire

Chamberhouse Mill, Berkshire

Buckinghamshire

Hambleden Mill, Buckinghamshire

Cambridgeshire

Houghton Mill, Cambridgeshire

Cheshire

Quarry Bank Mill, Cheshire

Cornwall

Cotehele Mill, Cornwall

Cumbria

Stott Park Bobbin Mill, Cumbria

Derbyshire

Stainsby Mill, Derbyshire

Devon

Otterton mill, Devon

Dorset

King's Mill, Dorset

Durham

Killhope Wheel, Durham

East Sussex

Sheffield Mill, East Sussex

East Yorkshire

The Corn Mill, East Yorkshire

Essex

Bourne Mill, Essex

Gloucestershire

Egypt Mill, Gloucestershire

Greater London

Clock Mill, Greater London

Hampshire

Sadler's Mill, Hampshire

Hertfordshire

Redbournbury Mill, Hertfordshire

Isle of Wight

Yafford Mill, Isle of Wight

Kent

Bradley's Mill, Kent

Lancashire

Higher Mill, Lancashire

Leicestershire

Cotes Mill, Leicestershire

Lincolnshire

Cogglesford Mill, Lincolnshire

Norfolk

Caley Mill aka Heacham Mill, Norfolk

Northamptonshire

HardwaterMill, Northamptonshire

North Yorkshire

Gayle Mill, North Yorkshire

Northumberland

Ridley Mill, Northumberland

Nottinghamshire

Warsop, Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire

Mapledurham Watermill, Oxfordshire

Shropshire

Daniel's Mill, Shropshire

Somerset

South Yorkshire

Worsbrough Mill, South Yorkshire

Staffordshire

Brindley Mill, Staffordshire

Suffolk

Flatford Mill, Suffolk

Surrey

Shalford Mill, Surrey

Tyne and Wear

Path Head Water Mill, Tyne and Wear

Warwickshire

Wellesbourne Water Mill, Warwickshire

West Midlands

Sarehole Mill, West Midlands

West Sussex

Westhampnett Mill, West Sussex

West Yorkshire

Armley Mills, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Wiltshire

Worcestershire

Forge Mill, Worcestershire

Scotland

Aberdeenshire

Mill of Benholm, Aberdeenshire

Angus

Barry Mill, Angus

Dumfries and Galloway

East Ayrshire

Aiket Mill, East Ayrshire

East Lothian

Preston Mill, East Lothian

East Renfrewshire

  • Knowes Mill

Highlands

Click Mill, Kingussie

Lanarkshire

  • Carmichael Mill, Hyndford Bridge
  • New Lanark Mill, New Lanark

Moray

North Ayrshire

Dalgarven Mill, North Ayrshire
Giffen Mill, North Ayrshire

Orkney

Dounby Click Mill, Orkney

Perthshire

Stanley Mills, Perthshire

Renfrewshire

Meikle Millbank Mill, Renfrewshire

Scottish Borders

Robert Small’s Printing Works, Innerleithen

Shetland

South Ayrshire

Millmannoch Mill in the 18th century, South Ayrshire

Western Isles

West Lothian

Livingston Mill, Livingston

Northern Ireland

County Antrim

County Down

Coalisland Mill, County Down

County Fermanagh

County Tyrone

Ballynasaggart, County Tyrone

Wales

Clwyd

King's mill, Clwyd

Dyfed

Y Felin, St Dogmaels, Dyfed

Gwent

Gelligroes Mill, Gwent

Gwynedd

Mid Glamorgan

Powys

South Glamorgan

Esgair Moel, South Glamorgan
  • Deheufryn Gorse Mill, St Fagans
  • Esgair Moel, St Fagans
  • Melin Bompren, St Fagans
  • Rhayader Tannery, St Fagans
  • Tŷ'n Rhos Sawmill, St Fagans

West Glamorgan

Channel Islands

Guernsey

  • St Peter's Mill, St Peter's

Jersey

Le Moulin de Quétivel, Jersey
  • Moulin de Lecq, La Greve de Lecq
  • Quetivel Mill, St Peter's Valley
  • Tesson Mill, St Peter's Valley

Isle of Man

Groudle Glen, Isle of Man

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Martin Watts: Watermills, Shire Publications Ltd, UK, 2006
  • Jim Woodward-Nutt & Jenny West: Mills Open, Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, UK, 1997
  • Neil Wright (Ed), Lincolnshire's Industrial Heritage, Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, UK 2004, ISBN 0 903582 20 1
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