VISIT TO BISHOPSTONE TIDEMILLS
John Blackwell
This visit had been arranged to complement our winter lecture on
the same subject. Some twenty of us assembled on a perfect summer's day to be
greeted by Jill and Bob Allen, our guides. Crossing the Newhaven to Seaford
railway line, the platforms of the halt, which formerly served the inhabitants
of Tidemills village, are clearly visible although the last train to stop there
was in 1942.
Originally the mouth of the River Ouse was at Seaford and, from what is now
Newhaven, its course ran in an easterly direction parallel to the shore behind a
shingle bank. By 1761 its course had altered to flow into the sea at Newhaven;
however its original course, now silted up at Seaford, remained tidal. A wealthy
land owner Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, obtained an Act of Parliament to
build a dam across this creek for a tide mill which was built by 1768.
The principle of tide mill operation was to impound the water at high tide and
then to release it as the tide fell, driving undershot water wheels that
provided power to the stones. The heyday at Bishopstone was between 1803 and
1853 when William Catt headed a somewhat feudal community and the mill had 16
pairs of stones, with 20 acres of storage ponds, and a 16 hour working
capability producing 1,500 sacks of flour a week. The repeal of the Corn Laws in
1846 allowed cheaper foreign grain to be imported and the development of the
railway system allowed flour to be easily distributed nationwide from the newer
steam driven roller mills. The competition was just too great and in 1879 the
complex was sold to the Newhaven Harbour Company. The mill and granary were
demolished in 1901; the village cottages were finally condemned in the 1930s due
to a lack of mains drainage. Deterioration and use for target practice during WW
II left only a few walls and foundations.
With the aid of old photographs Bob explained the layout and
operation of the site. The outline of the east millpond is still clearly visible
as is the main village street and the bridge across the creek. The wharf for the
barges delivering grain and the position of the water wheels are more difficult
to find and the west millpond has been completely filled in.
Leaving Tidemills village we emerged on to the foreshore and immediately in
front of us would have been a sea wall; the construction of breakwaters at
Newhaven Harbour have created a huge shingle beach and now make it hard to
visualise the sea reaching this point. A railway line that it is believed was
used to transport materials for maintenance of the sea wall is still clearly
visible. Some half mile to the west was the site of a Naval Seaplane base from
1917 to 1920. Little now remains other than an area of concrete, the site of the
hangars and aprons. A pair of rusting rails were the runners for the sliding
hangar doors and a metal post was assumed to be an anchor point for planes
standing on the apron.
Returning to just east of the village street Jill Allen told the story of the
Marine Hospital School. This was the brainchild of Grace Kimmins, the founder of
Chailey Heritage Workshops and Hospital, and was for physically disabled boys
who had suffered from rickets, polio or accident causing loss of limbs. She
believed in the beneficial effect of sea air, sea bathing and sunshine, beds
often being wheeled out on to a veranda on the sea side of the wards on sunny
days in both winter and summer. As well as the wards there was a schoolroom and
nurses' home. Established in the early twenties the original buildings were WW I
wooden military huts on concrete bases. WW II brought the activities to a close
but the concrete bases remain and again old photographs bring them vividly to
life. By the way, the windmill on the roof in many old photographs served no
milling purpose; it was used to power a hoist when loading grain and flour into
the barges.
Our thanks to Bob and Jill for a fascinating afternoon and for explaining a site
I have always found difficult to interpret. Visits conducted by Society members
are always of great interest, as they are fully aware of our interests rather
than following a local history or tourist agenda. There are nearly 400 of you
out there, so if you know the IA of your area and would be willing to host a
visit please let us know; there is always support and guidance if needed.
BISHOPSTONE STATION
Ron Martin
Since the mention, in Newsletter No. 123, of Bishopstone Station, a site
investigation has been made. The original station which was opened in 1938,
comprises a central octagonal atrium rising up through two storeys with a single
storey wing at the east and west sides, housing toilets on the east side and,
originally, the booking office on the west side, now used as a shop. Underneath
the west wing is a basement boiler room. The main entrance is into the atrium
from the north side with another opening opposite it onto a steel bridge
spanning the tracks, with flights of steel stairs down to the platforms. The
walls are red/brown bricks in stretcher bond, those of the atrium being
rusticated. A concrete canopy extends across the main entrance. All the roofs
are flat, asphalt covered, with parapets and that of the atrium has pavement
lights inserted.
On the flat roofs abutting the north east and north west facets of the atrium
are two pillboxes, each with two embrasures facing southeast, northeast,
southwest and northwest, with stepped reveals. The wall of the pillboxes, 540 mm
thick, are of brick, faced with similar, but not identical, bricks to the
station and rusticated to match. The roofs of the pillboxes are supported on
brick piers built against the external walls of the atrium. The two pillboxes
are connected by a crawling passage with a sloping concrete roof. There is an
opening from the east pillbox onto the flat roof and another opening which has
been cut through the external wall of the northwest facet of the atrium and has
been subsequently bricked up. There would presumably have been a cat ladder for
access internally through this opening.
There has been some speculation in the past as whether the pillboxes were
contemporary with the building of the station. An inspection of the site
confirms that this was not so and they were presumably constructed in summer of
1940 at the time of the impending German invasion when the stop lines of
pillboxes were built.
