LONDON
SUSSEX
FRENCH RIVIERA
RECENT
PROJECTS
Watermill
Country House
Indoor Swimming pool
Mixed Development
Farm Re-development
Residential Townhouse
Live/Work Development
Gypsy Wagon Restoration
Water Mill - Dorset This disused Grade 2 listed water mill in Bridport, Dorset, will be converted into residential use, incorporating an associated workshop/office on the ground floor. A micro water turbine will be installed under the mill to provide all energy requirements.
A water mill was first recorded on this site in the 15th Century, when it was used for boiling hemp and rope making. It has since become a major landmark in Bridport town centre. The present building dates back to the 1880s, and was revolutionary at the time for its single turbine which could drive three mill stones instead of one, greatly increasing the mill's productivity.
The machinery used in the 1880s, belonging to local millwright and engineer PR Samsons, remains intact and will be preserved.
Despite its innovative three mill stone design the mill is typical of its time. Over its three floors, sacks of grain were hoisted up to the top floor, known as the 'bin' or 'granary' floor. When required the frain was released down chites to the first floor, or 'stone' floor.
Here the grain would enter the centre, or 'eye', of the top stone, the 'runner stone', turned by power from the turbine gear. The bottom stone, or 'bed stone', was fixed meaning the grain was nipped and ground between the two stones. A pattern etched into the bed stone helped grind the grain and moved the flour to the edge of the stone.
The flour would fall to the ground for bagging and transportation or hoisted to the top floor for further processing.
The miller could govern the fineness of the flour by controlling the height of the runner stone above the bed stone.
