Lemsford Mill

Lemsford Mill
Hertfordshire
Lemsford Mill
Type:	Watermill
Location
Grid reference:	TL21951238
Location:	51°47’48"N, 0°13’59"W
Village:	Lemsford
History
	Built 1863
	Watermill
Information
Condition:	Converted to flats

Lemsford Mill is a former watermill, now converted into flats, on the River Lea at Lemsford, just west of Welwyn Garden City. It is a Grade II listed building.

History

Lemsford Mill is probably one of four mills on the River Lea at Hatfield recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and records show that it was milling flour since the 12th century. It was owned in the 12th Century by the Fitzsimon family of Simonshyde. From then until the 19th century its history is obscure, though the village was referred as 'Lemsford Mills' from the 17th century. By the 19th century the mill was part of the Brocket Hall Estate and miller was a tenant of the estate.

The ancient wooden clad mill collapsed in the mid-1800s.

The present mill was built 1863 on the site of the collapsed mill: its reconstruction is commemorated by a plaque depicting a lion holding a star set in the yellow brickwork on the back of the mill.

Milling continued over eight centuries right up until 1913. The last miller was Alfred Hill, who died in 1925. Then Lemsford Mill became a private residence and later on an engineering works. In 2004 it was purchased by Ramblers Holidays Ltd and converted to offices.

Construction

The mill is large for its type, four soreys high plus an attic. The ground and first floors are of pale gault brick, and the upper storeys are clad with weatherboarding. It has a slate roof half hipped at north end with bracketed weatherboarded housed hoist above centre of east front.

There are small, segmental arched windows in brickwork, timber lintels to those in weatherboarding. Superimposed former loading doors in line with the hoist.

The original mill wheel which was overshot, but is no longer in place, though a new waterwheel has been fitted to generate electricity. There remains intact the internal structural system of cast iron columns with concave echinus to the capitals. A queen post with trusses carry the roof.

Local tradition has it that in the early 1900s the waterwheel was adapted to generate electricity for The Mill House, making it one of the earliest houses in the area to have electric power. If so, this was a precursor to an innovative development in 2005 when, as part of the refurbishment of The Mill, Ramblers Holidays installed a new waterwheel to generate electricity by hydropower. The breast-shot wheel is the first of its kind to generate electricity in Britain. On average over half of their daily office usage is generated and any excess in the evenings and at weekends goes into the National Grid.

The Old Mill by the Stream

It is reputed that upon seeing a beautiful young maiden on the village bridge, J.P. Skelly wrote the music hall song 'Nellie Dean' whilst visiting the Mill:

There's an old mill by the stream, Nellie Dean
Where we used to sit and dream, Nellie Dean….

References

• Lemsford Mill - British Listed Buildings