Site of 18th and 19th century flour mill and mill head, 'Stambridge Mills', (EHER 40672)

Now destroyed. The site of a tide mill built in 1720 or 1762. It was rebuilt in the early 19th century. Demolished in 1970. The pond, sluice gate and watercourse remain. Now a modern flour mill occupies the site.

June 1972. Field survey. Recorded by NRIM. Photographed. <1> <2> 2008. Field survey. A mill dating from 1762 was rebuilt at a cost of £2,907 in the early 19th century by John Kemp, who had taken a 25 year lease in 1809. By 1816 the Kemp brothers dissolved their partnership and the mill was leased in 1822 to William Rankin and his cousin Samuel Tabor. In 1836 it had five pairs of stones, to which Rankins added a steam mill running another six pairs. Stambridge Mill was reconstructed by Alfred Mottram and Hugh Rankin in 1872 and while the steam mill burnt down in 1878, the watermill and house survived. As a replacement A.M. and Hugh Rankin built a new five-storey brick and slate mill with five pairs of stones replaced in 1893 by six sets of rollers. By 1905 the tide pond, which still provided 7 hours work on flood tides, no longer filled on neaps probably due to ‘slobbing up’ with mud. The site was sold to Associated British Foods in 1962 and two years later the old mill was destroyed by fire. Large redundant flour mill complex sited adjacent to the river Roach and a large (now silted up) tide pool (mill head) to the south and south-west. A operational sluice gate lies at the juncture of the mill head and the tidal stretch of the river Roach, while another smaller sluice is situated immediately north and a weir, at a short distance to the south. The site has been extensively rebuilt since the later 19th century to the extent that the present site now almost exclusively comprises modern mid-later 20th century brick and steel clad production and storage buildings. However, following numerous fires the remnants of 19th century mill buildings still remain, either merely as walls incorporated into larger modern buildings or as partial structures integrated into the main complex. Along the southern boundary and adjacent to the main sluice lies a four-bay, two-storey, brick-rendered, gable-ended range which may have once been the mill house of the former and now demolished tide mill. It has been extensively altered, the southern end extended by one bay and the roof recovered using modern corrugated steel panels. Few features remain apart from a series of earlier window openings, either built with stone arched lintels with skewbacks or cambered brick arches. To the east and fronting onto the wharf are the remains of a 3½ storey late 19th century early 20th century yellow stock brick range with gable end to the south. Its upper gable has been rebuilt, presumably at the same time the present conveyor gantry for unloading grain barges was added. To the rear (north) lies a complex of structures, clad in modern materials, which could conceivably be earlier mill buildings, while along the eastern boundary is a tall early-mid 20 th century grain/flour store with an elevator bay to the south and running north, a bank of six in-line concrete silos. This huge building in turn links via overhead conveyors to a group of six modern cylindrical steel silos to the north-east. A range of modern 1970-1990s sheds occupy the western site, while the only buildings of note to the north are the gate lodge and a turn of the 20th century office range. The mill head (tide pool) is still recognisable but away from the river course it is silted up and overgrown. The active mill head sluice is essentially a modern concrete construction inserted into an earlier opening. Some earlier 19th century brickwork, behind modern rebuilding survives in the splayed revetment walls while large stone blocks are present in the northern wall of the sluice. The southern side of the sluice and the weir have both been rebuilt during the 20th century using granite blocks. <3> 2011. Heritage assessment. Level 2 historic building record of the Stambridge Mills site prior to demolition. The mill was closed in 2001 and at the time of the survey was derelict. The site has been a mill since the late 18th century but the buildings, layout and operation has changed and developed for over 200 years, with large-scale development occurring in 1810-1811 and throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries. The earliest building on the site is the 1811 mill house, originally located at the northern end of the tidal mill building of that date, which has since been demolished. The mill house has been extended after the demolition of the tidal mill by an addition to the south, but it does not appear to have become part of the industrial buildings, rather has become an ancillary structure for the mill workers. Two of the extant buildings formed part of the late 19th century steam mill, which was extended by the addition of two other extant buildings after the turn of the century. These have been significantly altered internally and externally by 20th century additions and removals resulting from the expanding mechanisation of the mill industry, especially during the second half of the 20th century. The remainder of the buildings date from the 20th century, largely the latter part of the century when the milling process was industrialised under the ownership of Allied Mills. <4> NRHE data transfer: Stambridge Mills [NAT]. <5> Stambridge Mills. 19th century. Extensive and very modern buildings of Allied Mills Ltd hide the site of a tide mill damaged by fire in 1966 and totally demolished about 1970, leaving only the pond, sluice-gate and watercourse today. Nearby some parts of the late Victorian roller mills survive beside the River Roach, still trading with barges. <6>