Hauxton Mill

Hauxton Mill
Cambridgeshire
Hauxton Mill
Type:	Watermill
Location
Grid reference:	TL431526
Location:	52°9’14"N, -0°5’30"E
Village:	Hauxton
History
	Built 1862
	Watermill
Information

Hauxton Mill is a classic watermill by Hauxton in southern Cambridgeshire, on the River Granta and on the old road between Cambridge and Royston, now just bypassed by the A10.

The mill was built in 1862, and extended to south in the late 19th century. It is today a Grade II listed building, as is the bridge over the Granta forming part of the mill complex.

The mill is built of grey brick, with some red and yellow brick in the lower courses from an earlier mill on the site. It has single range in six roof bays and spanning an undershot waterwheel and a by-pass sluice at the southern end. The mill rises to three storeys and a handling floor, with a hoist opening at the centre above the entry doorway.

Inside, much of the original machinery is intact, including the wooden waterwheel, underdriven grinding stones and the great spur wheel, wallower and upright shaft.

History

The Domesday Book records a mill on the site, though no trace remains. The current mill was built in 1862, the last of a series of mills here, though it is known to have been built on the foundations of its predecessor, the lowest course of bricks of the main building are those of an earlier building.

The mill was the last working commercial mill of this type in the area. The last commercial operations were run by G.M.A. Turner & Son Ltd, a civil engineering company which operated out of the mill and its grounds, but in 1972 Gerald Turner liquidated the company, and it reverted to the landlord.

The neighbouring site was owned by a chemical pesticide company for many years before being bought by Fisons Agrochem in the late sixties. Regulations on the operation of chemical plants close to residential and other property obliged Fisons to buy out the neighbouring properties with residential housing, included the mill site, because of the mill house (approx 1922) and the older mill cottage (which was rebuilt in 1973).

Fisons used the mill for storage and failed to obtain planning permission to convert the building to various uses, due to the historic interest. The new mill house was converted to flats, and after another round of legal changes was finally used as an administrative office before falling into disuse in the mid eighties.

The mill was left unattended, with the doors and windows blocked and barred, and gradually fell into a state of disrepair. A grate in front of the mill wheel was removed for now forgotten reasons, and a storm sent a tree crashing into the wooden wheel, effectively ending the operability of the mill around 1980. The grating has since been replaced and the remains of the tree removed.

Outside links

• Hauxton Mill on Flickr