Houghton Watermill, Houghton Mill

Summary

Original mill dates back at least as far as 974 and belonged to Ramsey Abbey. The present 5 storey watermill dates partially from the seventeenth century, but mostly from the eigtheenth and nineteenth centuries.

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Monument Types

Description

Water-driven corn mill over a tributary of the River Ouse. it is a site, like most watermill sites, of considerable antiquity. The man-made island on which it stands was established by 974 when the mill was brought by Ealdorman Aylwin, one of the founders of Ramsey Abbey. After the Dissolution of the monastries the mill passed to the Crown, in 1539. It was sold in 1625 to the Kinboltons of Manchester and by various routes ended up as a tenancy of William Brown and his son from 1797. From 1898 John Belton ran the mill and in 1930 it fell into disuse. From 1934 to 1938 it was run as a youth hostel, an arrangement which required the construction of dormitories and other rooms in the grain storage areas of the interior.
Houghton Mill is the most important of the very few remaining watermills on the River Ouse. Parts of thr present building date from the 17th century but extensive alterations were made in the 18th and 19th centuries. The external appearnace of the building has changed considerably even since the Victorian period. Originally it was thatched, and and at water level it had three large wheels in semicircular housings. On the north side a single large water-wheel drove three pairs of stones, while on the south two wheels in a staggered arrangement powered seven further pairs of stones.
The mill is a five-storey structure of considerable scale. They include the Bin Floor where the grain was stored, the Stone Floor where it was milled and the Bagging Floor. It also houses one internal and two external hoists, operating from the cantilevered gabled housings, or Lucams, on the north and west elevations were all powered by the waterwheels. The machinery of the mill is well preserved.
The waterwheels were removed in 1930 when the mill closed, and the Drainage Board installed sluices which now control the flow passing through the channels in whcih they stood. The Trust has reinstated one pair of millstones and set the machinery in motion with electric power. The reinstatment of the north waterwheel is a more long term project. In the meantime the Trust has purchased the late 19th century Miller's House and an area of land on the north side of the old mill race. The Miller's House has been restored to provide accomodation for the Custodian of the mill. The land to the north of the millrace is an unusual survival of undeveloped Ouse river bank. The Trust intends to protect this area for its ecological interset and landscape value as a setting for the mill.
Given in 1939 by the Great River Ouse Catchment Board in cooperation with the BC's of Huntingdon and Godmanchester and endowed by LT-Col Louis Tebbutt, grandson of Mr Goodman. The Miller's House and 0.8ha of river frontage were acquired in 1982, chiefly through a gift from Miss Sheila Day. [1]

An archaeological watching brief carried out during September 1998 revealed 19th century structural elements relating to the restoration and rebuilding of the mill. These included foundations, walls and the supporting block for the mill wheel, to the immediate north of the mill leat. These 19th century works truncated earlier deposits. [2]

A publication by the Friends of the Norris Museum records that Houghton Mill's most famous miller was Potto Brown in the 19th century, who was a staunch non-Conformist, and contributed generously to the building of non-conformist churches in Houghton, St Ives and Huntingdon. However, tradition has it that Potto's workmen were quite hard done by. On the Green there is a bust, erected by his descendants, to the memory of Potto Brown. [3]

C17 water mill, rebuilt and extended in C18 and C19. Three-storeys and attics. Gault brick, red brick and two inch brick. Part timber-framed and weather-boarded with plain tile roof and gabled gantries. Pivot hung windows with glazing bars. Modern external wooden fire staircase with two landing stages. Open, through passage to right of centre with foot bridges on either side of mill spanning two weirs. Three original, breast- driven wheels removed in 1931 and replaced by modern sluices. Interior: Three pairs of grinding stones still in situ on grinding floor with other mill machinery intact; storage bins and shoots at first and second-floor levels. Original staircase, floors and trap-doors. Mills have been recorded on this site since 974. The present mill replaces one burnt down in C17. It ceased to work in 1930 and became a Youth Hostel in 1934. In 1939 it was given to the National Trust. It is now the only surviving watermill on the River Ouse in the old county of Huntingdonshire. It is noted for its picturesque setting and is frequented by landscape artists. [4]

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