Bulford Mill (EHER 29968)

A 19th century water and steam mill. Records show that there has been a mill on this site since 1086 and the history of the ownership of the mill is well-documented. Much of the site has been converted and it is now used as a house. Summary from record 6459: Site of Bulford Mill.

July 1988. Grade II listed. A 19th century water and steam mill. The mill is mainly of red brick in English bond, partly timber framed and weatherboarded, roofed with slate; engine house of gault brick in English bond, roofed with slate. <1> See photos <2>. 2008. Field survey. History of the mill at this site: Records show that there has been a mill on this site since Little Domesday (1086) when it was one of two mills in Notlea owned by Count Eustace of Boulogne. As a manorial mill to Cressing it later passed into the hands of the Knights Templar. There is a reference to a ‘thulling mill’ in 1556 and description of a mill in the mid 17th century. By 1707 a mill at Bulford is in the possession of William Draper of Adgcombe Place, Surrey, who renovates or rebuilds the mill and leases it to Daniel Wade. The mill undergoes another renovation in 1780 by Thomas Nottidge and remains solely as a fulling mill until it is acquired by Joseph Savill in 1804. Savill introduced corn milling but continued with fulling reportedly ‘set his fulling stocks to work there’ and in 1813 ‘set my spinning machines to work’. Working together with his other mill in Bocking, Savill acquired many lucrative contracts including the supply of cloth to merchants as far afield as Portugal. However, his enterprise failed and by 1813 he sold to Richard Dixon who converted the mill solely to corn milling. When Dixon bought the larger Wickham Mills (EHER 46119), Bulford passed to John Ridley (1827) and by 1848 to James Catchpole. A steam engine and house was added by 1862 just before the mill passed into the hands of William Horsenail and Henry Catchpole in 1863. In 1892 rollers were installed, working with and not replacing the stones, and in the following year (1893) a turbine replaced the 18ft diameter overshot waterwheel. From 1895-1897 Bulford was worked by Harrison and West, from 1897-1914 by Cramphorns and finally from 1914-1947 by Francis Blyth. Judge J.C. Llewellyn bought Bulford Mill and Mill House in 1947 and immediately closed down all milling operations but adapted the turbine to generate electricity for his estate. The complex of buildings at Bulford were split up in 1992 and the mill was sold to Roger Tabor, who sympathetically restored the mill to its present condition. It is now in residential use. Bulford Mill is the principal building amid a complex of mill buildings including a brick-built granary, an engine shed and a fine Grade II listed Mill House (EHER 29971) with a range of stables, cart lodge and barns to the rear and along the road frontage. The mill sits within an historic landscape shaped by the requirements of the miller. To the north the mill leat runs roughly parallel and to the east of the natural meandering river course of the Brain. The mill leat bank channels water to the mill and to the overflow sluice which drains under Bulford Lane back to the River Brain, just north of the mill. Although this sluice has been rebuilt, an earlier timber sluice thought to date from the 18th century was recently revealed. Between the leat and the Brain is the mill marsh, which absorbs, stores and gradually releases flood water. The mill tail is culverted below Bulford Lane and along the front (west) of the Mill House to emerge approximately 32m south of the mill. To the north and east of the mill are the tenterfields, historically used in cloth production. A windmill working alongside Bulford Mill once stood on high ground to the rear of the mill and further along Bulford Lane, in the direction of Cressing. Description of the mill building: Bulford Mill lies to the east of Black Notley and along Bulford Lane. It straddles the mill leat to the north of the lane on an approximate east-west axis and lies immediately west of an 18th century granary building and opposite the mill house. It is an impressive 4½ storey four-bay mill partly built in red brick with a timber framed weatherboarded upper storey and gable ends. It has a slate covered gable ended roof with an off-centre cantilevered and gable ended lucam projecting to roadside (south). A small gault brick engine house, now used as a garage, abuts the mill's north-east angle and once formed part of a larger mill structure (now demolished) built along the eastern end wall. The present main access into the mill reuses an original aperture in the east wall at first floor and replaces (functionally) the original main entrance at roadside, as this is no longer safe due to road traffic. An original cart loading door with gantry lies off centre at first floor while a wider taking in door (now French doors) is situated above and within the central bays on the second floor. The windows of the front and rear elevations comprise the original large multi pane double hung sashes with narrower side lights, arched heads and gauged brick voussoirs. They are equally spaced at bay intervals across the first and second floors (for security no windows were built at ground floor), although the symmetry is interrupted by the two working doors in the façade. The windows of the third and attic storeys are also mainly contemporary with the building and are either smaller multi-pane sashes or casements. The brickwork is laid in English bond and includes bricks with burnt headers and diagonal ‘squish’ marks both consistent with an 18th century date. The lower brick courses of the south-west angle have been cut back and rounded off (corbelled) to facilitate the passage of larger vehicles along Bulford Lane. An examination of the main structural walls revealed that they rested on substantial step foundations and that the walls were heavily constructed at the base/ground floor levels and stepped in (narrowed) at each storey. As they stepped back they also incorporated the storey posts at bay intervals which supported the main structural floor beams. Industrial features: Although the mill is now in residential use much of its heavy machinery, fixtures, fittings and equipment remain intact and for the most part in situ. Many of the millers tools are still in the mill, including the lewis, blocks for turning the stones, levelling steels, families of weights, 19th century sacks with the Bull logo, a precursor to the later Clipper ensign used at Bulford and the mill ladder. The turbine, roller mills, screens, line shafting driving the rollers, stones and auxiliary machinery, networks of chutes, three mill stones with tuns and the sack hoist are the main technological survivals. Following a visit to Bulford in 1976, Benham reports: ‘From the old wheel pit the turbine shaft rises up through the mill with a bevel on the second floor to a layshaft to work a dynamo, grindstone and sack hoist. On the ground floor the shaft drove three pairs of stones by V belts, the take off for the rollers was not clear. There is no provision to disengage the drive so presumably the belts were fitted or removed as required. The arrangement is that the stones (by Whitmore and Binyon) stand in line and not the usual layout of a ring around the spur wheel’. The wheel or turbine pit is located in the western bay at ground floor level. The external turbine gate control remains in functional use although it is now closed down to limit water to the turbine. An iron upright shaft from the turbine rises through the building, but on its journey power is taken off using either a system of pulleys or a bevel gears and line shafting. Built along the northern (rear) wall of the ground floor is an iron hursting supporting a series of three in line pulleys. Each pulley under-drives a set of stones and is in turn driven from the upright shaft using a number of leather V belts, some examples of which still remain in situ. The tentering to the stones could be adjusted at this level. By association with the mill stones it is likely that this pulley system and possibly the removed overshot wheel were manufactured and installed by Whitmore and Binyon. The lower floors were used for fulling and the upper floors for milling when the mill operated as a corn and fulling mill, but all visible evidence of its fulling history appears to have been removed when the mill went over to corn. Air channels built alongside the part culverted race within the building and around the basement area were included to help ventilate the ground/basement floor and help alleviate damp within the brickwork. Three sets of in-line mill stones located toward the rear (northern) wall and within the central and eastern bays are the main feature of the first floor. The stones are French Burrs by Whitmore and Binyon and all still retain their circular tuns and some still have their hoppers and shoes. A part glazed and timber board millers office with contemporary furniture, still remains in the north-eastern corner of the floor (which was reportedly sound proofed using old copies of Millers News). A straight flight to the second floor is situated in the opposite north-west corner and a hatched stair to the basement (ground) in the central bay along the north wall. The majority of the straight flights were retained within the re-development, although most remain unused as a modern newel staircase was inserted along the eastern wall. Many older pine floor boards remain on this floor and the floors above while of particular interest are the double width Elm boards which span the western bay above the wheel pit. The roller mills and the line shafting and take off pulleys powering both mills and ancillary apparatus were situated on the second floor. A roller mill by Robinson and Sons with an attached grindstone and wooden chutes lies central to the floor and to the rear (north) of the upright shaft. The latter meshes using a bevel gear to two lay shafts set at right angles east-west and north-south. A series of pulleys along the shafts drove floor mounted apparatus using drive belts and the wooden sack hoist mechanism above. Access to the third or bin floor and roof space was not possible although reportedly the grain bins are untouched apart from some slight alterations to enable access. Interestingly many still display graffiti on the lapboard partitions and a sketch of the mill showing the engine houses and square stack. The hopper bottom bases of the bins are still visible from below and many have now been re-used by inserting central ‘down lights’. The engine house: Attached to the north-east angle of the mill is the engine house of around 1862. It is a small gault brick building with a slate gable ended roof and tall arch headed cast-iron framed windows in its long elevations. A modern full height garage door has been inserted into the south gable wall, probably following the demolition of the building it previously butted up to. It is currently used to house the Harrison and West millers dray (cart) which was in use between 1897 and 1914. Further to the east is the granary in which a chaff cutter driven by belt from the engine house was installed in the 19th century on first floor. It is now in residential use. Site significance: Bulford Mill survives as one of an ever diminishing number of mills in Essex that still retain a significant amount of its milling technology, fixtures and fittings. Auxiliary structures such as the engine house remain as does a 19th century millers dray once in use at the mill. In addition to the preservation of the mill structure and its contents Bulford Mill lies central to a group of associated mill buildings, including the listed mill house, granary, stables, cart lodge, barn and within an increasing rare historic landscape incorporating the watercourse, its mill marsh, leat bank and tenterfields, the latter associated with its original use as a fulling mill. Bulford survives as one of the most important mills in the county. <3> Bulford Mill. Some gear in/ turbine/ house conversion. <4> 'Site of Bulford Mill'. <5> Water mill symbol shown here on the Chapman and Andre map of 1777. <6> 'Mill (Dis)' shown here on the modern OS map. <7>