Late 19th century Steam Mill, East Hanningfield (EHER 40763)

Late 19th century steam powered corn mill. It is a four storey brick building with hoist loft and corrugated-iron roof, recently used to grind fertilisers but now a springs factory.

Late 19th century four storey brick mill with hoist loft and corrugated iron roof. Recently used to grind fertilisers and now a springs factory, <1> The former steam mill in East Hanningford is set back from and to the west of the main thoroughfare (The Tye) through the village. It originally formed part of a small complex of industrial/farm buildings that appear on the second edition OS of around 1897 and along with the Mill House is the only building from that period to survive. Its rather unusual alignment, at odds with the road appears to have been determined by the confines of the site boundaries. Today its setting looks rather incongruous with the modern houses that have encroached and surround the old mill on three sides. The new houses were built during the mid 1990s and at the same time when the mill was converted from a semi-derelict state for use as offices by the present incumbents Robert Hutson Architects. It is a 3½ storey three bay brick built and slate roofed mill with gable ends to the NE and SW, a central lucam to the front and a modern stair tower, incorporating the characteristics of a lucam, to the rear. The brickwork is laid in an irregular bond resembling Flemish Bond and uses dark red brick interrupted by yellow brick string courses for the façade and a paler red brick for the remainder of the building. The string courses are irregularly spaced but coincide with the window sills on all three levels and the door sills of the two loading doors. This decorative brick treatment was extended to the segmental window and door arches which are turned in two single courses of yellow and red brick on a three brick rise. A departure from this treatment is present in the two loading doors which are flat headed and constructed using a lintel. The roof eaves have an unusually wide overhang that is supported on simple timber brackets. The gabled lucam sits centrally within the roof, straddling the eaves level and cantilevered from the third floor. It has been reclad in modern weatherboard, no longer retains a sack trap and is situated directly above loading doors at first and second floors. The windows are modern replicas of a traditional horned top hung sash window of six lights. Two fully glazed doors have been used in the two front ground floor entrances. Internally the original floor structures were replaced with a steel frame when the mill was converted to office use. No evidence of the engine/boiler house or associated structures survives although the 19th century mill house lies adjacent to the north-east. <2> No new information from NRHE