Listed Building record MDO43401 - Town Mills, Barnaby Mead, Gillingham

A water powered silk mill was built in 1769 and was in use until 1895. The mill building still borders the stream at the rear of the grist ill. This building is of three storeys, with an attic, with a larger extension to the west and a mill house to the east. The extension and the house were probably added in the mid 19th century.

A water-powered silk mill was established at Gillingham in 1769 on a site adjoining an existing grist mill. The industry
continued until 1895 when trade was transferred to the Continent. <3>

ST 80792659. Town Mills of squared and coursed rubble with ashlar quoins and tiled roofs comprise a west range of the 18th century. Adjacent to this on the east is an early 19th century extension, and further north east is an 18th century cottage. Between the cottage and the 19th century extension, and adjoining both, is a late 19th century house. <4> <6>

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one, Dorset Sheet III.8, Surveyed 1886, Published 1887 (Map). SDO10239.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1890 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 80792659) Town Mills (Silk & Corn) (NAT)

<3> 1914, Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset 14, 289-92 (Serial). SDO17625.

<4> DOE (HHR), Oct 1951, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Shaftesbury RD (Scheduling record). SDO17584.

<5> Addison, J, and Wailes, R, 1963, Dorset Watermills; Transactions of the Newcomen Society 35, 12 (Article in serial). SWX1484.

<6> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 30 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(11) TOWN MILLS (80792659), 150 yds. E. of (1), have walls of squared and coursed rubble with ashlar quoins; the roofs are tiled (Plate 47). The W. range is of the 18th century; adjacent on the E. is an early 19th-century extension, and further N.E. is an 18th-century cottage. Between the cottage and the 19th-century extension, and adjoining both, is a late 19th-century house.

The W. range is of three storeys with dormer-windowed attics. The S. front has four bays of square-headed two-light casement windows with timber lintels and leaded glazing. The W. front has four bays of similar windows and, on the ground floor, a doorway and other casement windows. The N. and E. elevations are similar and respectively of three and of six bays. The southern part of the elevation is masked by the E. extension.

The E. extension has a S. front of four bays with a segmental-headed two-light casement windows, and doorways on the ground and first floors. A ground-floor opening adjacent to the W. range gives access to a narrow compartment containing the mill-wheel, presumably originally in the open. A stone marking a flood-level of 1768, in the S. front of the 19th-century E. extension, must be reset.

Inside, the W. range has a single large room in each storey. The floors rest on elm beams, chamfered and with splayed stops, housed in the E. and W. walls and supported in the middle on oak columns with Roman-Doric mouldings. The E. range contains no noteworthy features.

The cottage is two-storeyed and has an E. front with casement windows of two and three lights. Inside, on the S., is a large open fireplace.'

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF034110 Town Mills, Gillingham (Index). SDO14738.

The file contains the following miniature format film prints: 58/X/4 - 58/X/15. The file also contains photographic film prints AA48/09639 and AA53/08113 and prints by Rex Wailes referenced as 200/68/16A - 22A

<8> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/063 South West Textile Mills Project (Unpublished document). SDO17323.

<9> Dorchester Museum Collection, P4901, P4905, P4906, P4907 and P38,164 (Photograph). SDO17626.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206390 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 11 2022 12:18PM