19th century, Great Clacton (Bromleys) Steam Mill (EHER 40674)

Great Clacton steam roller mill erected 1886

The steam mill at Great Clacton was erected in 1886-7 by local baker, corn and fodder merchant, Henry Bromley, who took over the business some years before from the Beckwith family, Great Clacton millers of many generations. The steam mill eventually replaced the existing windmill (latterly renamed Bromley mill) which lay opposite the new steam mill in Bull Hill field. Contemporary accounts record Bromleys’ steam mill as fitted with ‘the most modern appliances’ from the outset and described it as a ‘model of its kind and fitted with machinery of the best make obtainable’. It was equipped with a 12 horse power engine and a 14 horse power boiler which supplied the motive power to the steam rollers. The bread ovens in the adjoining bakery, built by Tunks of Willesden, were built on the ‘continuous’ principle. Attached to the mill was a retail establishment selling large quantities of high class pastries, cakes, bread, buns and rolls for the local hotel trade and boarding houses in Clacton-on-Sea. In addition to supplying the ever growing tourist market, which flourished following the arrival of the railway, Bromleys was also a corn and fodder merchants, producing and stocking a wide range of products including corn, hay, straw, chaff, middlings, bran, barley, oats, meals, cattle foods, poultry foods and dog biscuits. The engine and boiler house were built to the rear of the mill with a tall industrial chimney stack situated close to the mills South-West angle. Both the engine/boiler house and the stack have been removed and replaced by a modern lean-to extension. By the later 1940s the steam mill was no longer in production and was latterly converted for use as a radio works and today continues in use as office premises. The former Bromleys steam mill is situated on the edge of the historic core of Great Clacton and just outside the Great Clacton Conservation Area. Set back slightly from the road frontage the mill, along with the adjacent mill house and modern factory production buildings (to the rear) form the business premises of Bowens photographic. The mill is a 3 storey brick and slate mill with gable ends facing NE-SW. Built over five in-line bays it now incorporates a modern two storey rear extension, built on the general footprint of the demolished former engine, boiler house and chimney stack. The weatherboarded lucam is typically central to the façade and sits above a taking-in door at first floor, but is unusually cantilevered out from the second floor structure and not the attic storey. Historic photographs of the mill show that the present lucam is a modern construction as the original lucam was supported on straight braces and had a more elevated position, straddling the eaves line, directly above another taking-in door at second floor. This opening is no longer visible as it has been reused as access into the faux lucam. Many of the windows, particularly to the façade, retain the cast-iron framed multi-light windows typical of many C19 industrial buildings. The fixed 4x4 light glazing is ventilated using a central pivoting hopper and where original sits below segmental arches of two on-edge courses. Fire escape doors have been inserted into the gable end wall at first and second floor while the former glazed shop front, situated toward the NE corner, has been blocked and two modern flat headed windows inserted. The mill is braced both axially and transversely by tie bars, as seen by the tie bar bosses at the level of the first and second floors. Modern external accretions include a steel fire escape, rainwater goods and a rear lean-to extension. Internally the building has been subdivided for office use. The former C17-18 millers house, which remains part of the land holding, fronts onto Old Road to the south of the steam mill, while a modern factory unit producing Bowens lighting/photographic equipment lies to the rear. Present Use: Business (Bowens Photographic) Condition: Good <1> NRHE data transfer: See also <2>