Stour watermills

Many different processes were performed by the use of water power:- Corn milling, fulling, paper making and electricity generation.

Many of the mills survive today as house conversions, with two of them still working commercially.

The upper reaches of the Great Stour powered eight watermills, with a further two on tributaries.

[1] TQ 902 496 51°12′50″N 0°43′19″E / 51.214°N 0.722°E / 51.214; 0.722 (Bowley Mill, Boughton Malherbe) This corn mill in Boughton Malherbe is now a derelict ruin, with the remains of the ground floor, waterwheel and some machinery remaining.

The Upright Shaft was wood, as was the clasp arm Great Spur Wheel, which drove three pairs of millstones.

The pit wheel is 8 feet (2.44 m) diameter with 80 cogs, driving a cast-iron Wallower carried on the upright shaft and driving a 6 feet (1.83 m) diameter Great Spur Wheel which drove three pairs of millstones.

Changing economic conditions meant that flong manufacture ceased in 1986.

The building survives, converted to residential use and was the former home of Victor Ross, chairman of Reader's Digest.

This is one of the oldest mills in Kent, recorded in a charter in 762, and is Grade II listed.

The house was derelict for some time before it ultimately settled as a domestic residence.

The house now standing was built in 1600 with numerous additions but the waterwheel and all mill workings have now gone.

There is still a waterfall and sluice adjacent to the house but old maps suggest that the wheel was located inside the current granary and there is evidence of an outflow emerging from underneath the building, that has now been largely filled in.

It is likely that the wheel was either breast-shot or under-shot given the relatively small fall of approximately 6 feet.

There were originally four pairs of millstones, of which two remain, driven by a system of belts and pulleys.

There was a twin cylinder self-condensing steam engine by Hall's of Dartford, built in 1840 which provided auxiliary power.

[10] A stream rises above Stowting and flows inte the East Stour above Evegate Mill.

TR 124 418 51°08′10″N 1°02′06″E / 51.136°N 1.035°E / 51.136; 1.035 (Stowting Mill) This millstones in the watermill were driven overdrift.

[18] The Great Stour powered sixteen watermills, with another on the Kennington Stream.

This drove six pairs of millstones, originally all underdrift, but one of the Stone Nuts has been adapted to drive a vertical shaft which powered auxiliary machinery and drove the sixth pair of stones overdrift by belt and pulley.

It was powered by a low breast shot waterwheel some 10 feet (3.05 m) wide.

Tracing paper was discovered here after a worker accidentally added too much starch to the mixture.

The mill was rebuilt circa 1790 and had two internal waterwheels driving eight pairs of stones.

[25] This corn mill stood within the city walls, and disappeared in mediaeval times.

Leather from the tannery was of the highest quality, and has been used in the coronation coach of King Edward VII, Rolls-Royces, Concorde, the QE2, Ferraris, and the Houses of Parliament.

In 1174 it was repossessed by the Crown, and granted to Rohesia, the sister of Thomas Becket.

The mill stood opposite The Weavers House, and marks in the brickwork show where the waterwheel was.

The building dated from 1792 and was originally designed as a granary by John Smeaton.

The base was brick and the upper five storeys were wood, clad in white painted weatherboarding.

In 1894, Messrs Holman Bros, millwrights of Canterbury, quoted £45.10.0 for a new iron waterwheel and pit wheel, or £36.0.0 for a new wooden one.

The mill has been converted into flats, and retains its breast shot waterwheel.