Bourne Mill, Colchester

Bourne Mill is a Grade I listed former fishing lodge and then in turn a fulling mill and cornmill in the city of Colchester in Essex and is owned by the National Trust.

Bourne Mill
Bourne Mill and Bourne Pond
TypeWatermill
LocationColchester
Coordinates51°52′38″N 0°54′45″E / 51.877105°N 0.91240235°E / 51.877105; 0.91240235
OS grid referenceTM 00565 23846
AreaEssex
Built1591
Rebuilt1640
OwnerNational Trust
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameBourne Mill
Designated24 February 1950
Reference no.1123673
Bourne Mill, Colchester is located in Essex
Bourne Mill, Colchester
Location of Bourne Mill in Essex

Bourne Mill, as a mill belonging to St John's Abbey

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St John's Abbey was founded as a priory in 1096 and granted abbey status in 1104.[1] By 1311 Bourne Mill belonged to St John's Abbey, and may have been the Abbey's mill from the time of its foundation.[2] Its name is first recorded in c. 1240 and derives from the small stream, or bourne, south of Colchester which drove the mill.[2] It was a corn mill throughout the Middle Ages, and was possibly rebuilt in c. 1326.[2] Its pond was the Abbey's fishpond.[2]

Sir Thomas Lucas's fishing lodge

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At the dissolution of the Abbey in 1539, the mill and pond passed through a number of hands before being sold to John Lucas.[2][3] John Lucas built a mansion on the site of the Abbey (subsequently destroyed during the Civil War).[3] His son, Thomas, built a fishing lodge in 1591, incorporating elements of the former Abbey and his arms above the doorway.[2][3] The gable ends are in the Dutch style, and incorporate a chimney at each end. [2]

Conversion to a mill

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In 1640 the fishing lodge was fitted out as a fulling mill and run by Flemish refugees.[3] In about 1840 it then became a cornmill and remained as such until the 1930s.[3] The conversion to a cornmill resulted in the insertion of an upper floor and a sack hoist.[2]

Acquisition by the National Trust

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The descendants of John Lucas continued to hold it until 1917.[2] It was acquired by the National Trust in 1936 from the last miller, Alfred Pulford, after its shaft broke.[3][4] The early history of the Trust's ownership of the mill was unsatisfactory, and by 1950 it had become derelict.[4] At that point it was Grade I listed.[5] It was converted into a house; the machinery was restored in 1966.[2][3][4]

References

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  1. ^ "Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Colchester | British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "A P Baggs, Beryl Board, Philip Crummy, Claude Dove, Shirley Durgan, N R Goose, R B Pugh, Pamela Studd and C C Thornton, 'Mills', in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9, the Borough of Colchester, ed. Janet Cooper and C R Elrington (London, 1994), pp. 259-264. British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "National Trust: The History of Bourne Mill". Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Colchester Heritage: Bourne Mill". Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  5. ^ Historic England (24 February 1950). "Bourne Mill (Grade I) (1123673)". National Heritage List for England.