This article, with two images, from 1947 includes a description of Shermanbury watermill, then still standing, 
though damaged by Canadian Troops in WWII, it was demolished in 1949

Sussex Watermills
By H. E. S. SIMMONS
FOUR streams rising on the north side of the Clayton-Westmeston road, one of which worked a mill which is shown on Budgen's map of 1724-79 as standing roughly a quarter of a mile WSW. of Lodge Farm on the Clayton to Ditchling road,¹ form one main stream just north of Hassocks, which turning westwards a little to the south of Clayton Priory, flows on to Hammonds Mill,² which is situated a little to the west of the main road between Hassocks and Burgess Hill, in the parish of Clayton 24 miles N. of the church, and named Hammonds Mill on maps from 1795 onwards.

It is a square built building, with three floors of brick and one of wood, with the pit-room below ground level. Its water is received from a small bricked-up pond which is fed by a by-pass flowing beneath the mill approach, the used water rejoining the main stream to the south of the mill. The engine house ad-joins the west side of the mill, and is of later date than the remainder of the building which was largely rebuilt in 1821, this date being found on a tablet on the north side accompanied by the initials "G.J.S." which probably refer to Mr. Saunders who was miller at about this time. The tablet "A.G. 1880" on the east side is said to refer to the addition of the present wooden upper portion, and possibly also to the brick extension to the south. The mill cottage alongside has on its chimney stack a tablet bearing the date 1743.

The wheel is enclosed at the east end of the building. It is an iron overshot 11ft. diam. by 6ft. wide, with a loin. rim and eight arms in two sections. The arms are cast with a square hub forming the nave, and are secured with two bolts at the nave casting, one mid-way along the arms and one against the rim. There are 48 wood buckets. An inscription in raised lettering on the rim reads "W. Cooper, Millwright, 1870." The shaft, to which the wheel is close-keyed, is iron 7in. square, and continues square for a few inches beyond the bearing instead of terminating flush with it as is the more usual practice. The pentrough is iron, fed by a pipe and also enclosed; its upper part protrudes through the stone-floor above and is inscribed "W. Cooper, Millwright and Engineer, Henfield, 1871."

All the pit gear is enclosed in a cupboard type cogpit. The pit wheel is iron, wood geared, 8-armed and 8ft. diam. in two sections. The wooden clasp-arm spur wheel is 7ft. 7in. diam. packed with a 1ft. 9in. square casting, and is built up on its top side with additional segments 9in. wide and 6in. deep with an upper flange similar to a belt pulley. It is extremely well made, and if, as seems likely, this addition was for belt driving or being belt driven, it is the only known in-stance of a belt being applied direct to the spur wheel, the usual method of driving by auxiliary power being an inner toothed ring bolted to the arms of the spur wheel and nut operated.

The wallower, which is 3ft. diam. iron and mounted 15in. below the spur, is wood wedged on to an l8in. casting, itself keyed on to the upright shaft which is iron 52 in. diam. The bridge-trees are iron with iron uprights 8in. wide; there were three sets, W. S. and N., the latter now removed.
The crown wheel, on the floor above, is iron 5ft. 6in. diameter and wood geared, with eight arms which are gin. deep at the central casting and taper sharply towards the rim. From the north side of this crown wheel a 14in. iron nut drove a 2¼-in. round shaft which extends to the wall where a 2ft. 8in. by 6in. iron pulley with a 4ft. 6in. by loin. fly-wheel flush against the wall drove a flour machine. This machine, as well as the stones and most of the former milling equipment on this floor, is now removed.

From the south side a similar nut and shaft operated the sack tackle, but this is no longer in position. The brackets carrying the bearings are iron, substantial and somewhat elaborate, and are bolted to beams. Some other shafting is now in position, but this was installed for barn machinery about two years ago and not for use by water power.

The sack tackle comprises a 1ft. 3in. wood pulley on a 6½in. bollard, mounted in a frame with an older bollard alongside which had double pulleys above for two different traps. It is situated in the topmost floor, which is extremely roomy and now entirely empty.

John Haselgrove was the miller at "Hamonds Mill" in 1615.³ In 1815 the mill was for sale,⁴ the tenant then being Mr. Thomas Blackmore. In 1817 the name of John Gainsford, of Clayton, Miller, bach., age 25, appears in the list of Sussex Marriage Licences,⁵ and the directory references begin in 1855 with John Wood Mercer, who was followed some years later by William Wood, who afterwards ran Hammonds and Ruckford Mills in conjunction. The firm of William Wood & Sons developed into a small company with premises in Gloucester Road, Brighton, which have remained in pretty much the same condition for the last sixty years.⁶

In 1895 the mill was running under the name of the New Close Flour Mills with John Spratt as manager. In 1899 the manager was John Winchester, and in 1903 Joseph Phillipps. As a flour mill it closed down shortly after this latter date and for a while was used for the making of copper wire. Water power has since been used for farm grinding, but the mill is now idle.

Ruckford Mill,⁷ half a mile further down stream, is a small three-floor building of brick with twin gables and half tiled front, to which additions have been made on the north side. The original north wall, how forming part of the engine room, bears a tablet on which is inscribed "E.A. L.A. 1768," which possibly refers to the family of Avery, by whose name the mill is marked on the O.S. map of 1843, although at that date Henry Unwins had been using it for a number of years. He was followed in 1853 by William Wood, whose descendants, after a short period of occupation by the millers William Taylor and Robert Broad, continued to use it until 1909. It is now run by Messrs. Charles Packham Ltd., who also have Cobbs Mill further down.

There are two wheels, enclosed at the north end of the building, side by side with one half in front of the other.⁸ Both are overshots 12ft. diameter. The outer one is 4ft. 3in. wide with an 8½in. iron rim, eight 4in. by 2½in. wood arms (renewed in 1937 by West of Bur-gess Hill), iron buckets and wood sole. The rim is in eight pieces, the sections being secured with two bolts. The naves consist of 2ft. 9in. by 3½in. rings with single sockets on plates each held to the ring with one bolt. The shaft is 16in. octagonal wood, with the wheel held by wooden wedges. This shaft passes in front of and close to the second wheel.
The inner wheel is all iron and 4ft. 9in. wide, with a rim of loin. depth. The eight arms are double T-section tapering from 5½in. at the nave to 4in. at the rim. The naves are 2ft. square cast in two sections with the arms secured by two bolts at the nave and one at the rim. The shaft is 16in. octagonal wood rounded towards the outer bearing. Both wheels fit closely to the wheel-house ceiling, the inner fed by two pipes and the outer by one, the pentroughs being housed in the stone floor above. The iron wheel is in excel-lent condition, but uses roughly twice as much water as the other.

The pit wheel for the wooden water-wheel is 7ft. 6in. diameter with eight arms and a aft. square nave secured to the shaft with wood packing. It is cast in two and is geared with wood. The upright shaft is iron, round and 4in. diam., with its brass supported by built-up baulks of timber. The wallower is .a 3ft. 8-armed casting, fitted close up to the spur, the latter being of wooden clasp-arm type in four segments 7ft. 6in. diam. by 7in. deep, with the arms overlapping on the top side. Only one pair of stones is driven by this gear, the nut for which is on the west side and is 15in. diam. iron on a 23/4 in. spindle raised by hand screwed ring and rods. The bridge is iron, tentered by hand screw.

On the stone floor above, the upright shaft carries a 4ft. 6in. 6-arm crown wheel wood geared with teeth on the top side. From the west side of this wheel a 12in. nut turns a shaft carrying pulleys the one nearest the wall driving an oat crusher, whilst from the east side a similar nut operates the sack tackle. Both nuts are permanently in gear.

The pit wheel for the iron wheel is similar in pattern to the other, as is the wallower, but the latter is fitted 1ft. below the spur and the iron upright shaft is 5½in. diam. The brass too is mounted on baulks of timber. The spur is an 8ft. by 6½-in. iron one with six arms, which replaces a wooden one which was taken out shortly after the present owners took possession. It drives two pairs of stones, the nuts being 16in. diam. iron on tapers and lifted by the usual rung and rod; and the bridges are iron. The east pair of stones at one time had governors belt-driven off the upright shaft; they are still to be seen in the NE. corner of the cog-pit, but trouble with the belt eventually led to their disuse.

The crown wheel is 6ft. diam. iron with eight T-section arms, wood geared, with teeth in the underside. The drive from a Clayton crude oil engine in the next compartment is conveyed to the east side of this crown wheel by a shaft which between the driving nut and the wall carries a 2ft. bevel engaging one of similar size for belt operating machines in the floor above. Two of these machines are old Climax scalpers which have not been used for many years, and the engine is now used mainly for chaff cutting. In Wood's time there was a portable steam engine, standing where the furthest extension has been built. The two iron pentroughs on the stone floor each carry inscriptions, that for the iron wheel being "W. Cooper, Millwright, 1861," and the other "W. Cooper, Millwright and Engineer, Hen-field, 1870." All three stones have octagonal furnishings, wood hoppers and horses.

There is a small head of water on the east side of the mill, but the supply is poor; in fact it has been so for a good many years, for Mr. Packham (no relation to the present owners) who has recently retired from the service of Mr. Warburton of Uckfield Mill after a life of milling, tells me that in 1904, when Mr. Wood took over the lease of the Clayton windmills from the executors of the late Mr. Hammond, for whom Mr. Packham was working the post mill, he went to help at Ruckford for a few months, and the bulk of the work during that time had to be done by engine. The present miller is Mr. J. Irving, who came from Cobbs Mill and has been in the employ of the present owners for 48 years.

Cobbs Mill in the same parish stands at the north end of Langton Lane, slightly more than 1½ miles NNW. of the church. It is a brick and timber building and has a large mill house on its north side. It is named "Cobbs Mill" on the early O.S., but is mentioned by its proper name in a newspaper report of 1831,⁹ and in 1834, when in the occupation of James. Mitchell, it was offered for sale by the then owner Mr. T. Ede of Shermanbury.¹⁰ It was taken over by Charles Packham whose name appears in Pigot's directory of 1839 and whose two sons Charles and Benjamin came into possession about 1850, Benjamin being partnered by Charles junior from about 1875 to 1881 when Benjamin took over Leigh Mill, Cuckfield, and left his nephew Charles in ,control of Cobbs. The latter died in 1912 after which the business was carried on by his widow, and since 1922 the mill has been run under the name of Charles Packham Ltd. The present miller in charge is Mr. Williams, who has been with the firm 54 years.

An earlier reference which might have some connection with the mill is the entry of "James Kenward, of Hurstpierpoint, Miller, age 24, 29 August 1789" in the list of Sussex Marriage Licences.' At the time of Domesday Robert de Pierpoint held of William de Warrene the manor of Herst, including 3 mills yielding 9 shillings.

Cobbs Mill wheel is placed on the south side and is uncovered; it is an all iron over-shot in excellent condition, measuring 11ft. diam. by 6ft. 10in. wide, with a loin. rim cast in two sections each with four slightly tapered double T-section arms with the naves cast to fit closely to the solid iron shaft which is 7in. square. The wheel has 48 buckets. The pentrough, which is fed by double iron pipes, is inscribed "H. Cooper, 1865."

The machinery in the pit room is comparatively modern; the pit wheel is 11ft. diam. in two sections, face geared with wood and engages a 3ft. wheel with teeth 6in. face by 1¼in. pitch which drives a 5in. horizontal shaft on which are mounted four 5ft. 6in. iron bevel spurs wood geared which engage with 12in. iron nuts on 2½in. round spindles, all on iron bridges and fitted with twin rod and ring lifting gear and hand screwed tentering. There are two pairs of governors, placed between the first and second and. second and third driving wheels respectively, each of which control two pairs of stones.
Auxiliary power is by a Tangye suction gas engine about forty years old, the drive being taken by a 6ft. wood geared iron bevelled spur mounted on the centre of the main shaft, with a nut sliding backwards and for-wards in and out of gear.

Three of the stones are peak, the other a burr which is in regular use for wholemeal flour, and all are 4ft. 6in. diam. with octagonal cases, wood hoppers and horses. The mill is beautifully kept, is in regular use and the remainder of the machinery is of the up-to-date type.

Shermanbury Water Mill:

From Cobb's Mill the stream crosses the main London road and flows through Twineham to Shermanbury Place which itself feeds a small head of water which at one time turned the wheels of Shermanbury Mill,¹¹ the tail water returning to the main stream in the meadow NE. of Mock Bridge, where it takes the name of the River Adur.
This is a most interesting mill, unfortunate in that it suffered somewhat at the hands of troops who were stationed in the park during the war. It is a medium size brick built and partly tile hung square building of three storeys the upper of which is on two levels to accommodate the garners now removed. On the east side wall is a stone tablet on which is carved "J.G.C. A.H.E. 1816," the second initials presumably being those of a member of the Ede family who were millers here at least as early as 177712 when William Ede is mentioned. His name appears again in 1787,5 1789,¹³ and 1804.¹⁴ The will of John Gratwick, of Shermanbury, who died in December 1724,¹⁵ mentions his watermill, ponds, floodgates and water courses at Shermanbury. The site is undoubtedly an old one, and there may have been a mill here at the time of Domesday, which records that Hemfelde was held by the Bishop of Chichester and that "a mill and fishery are wanting because they have been made over to William de Braose." According to V.C.H., however, this was probably the mill recorded as being held by Ralph (Ralph de Buci ?) of William de Braose as part of his manor of Wantley, which mill was then yielding 20 pence.

The present Shermanbury Mill had two wheels, both of which were outside and uncovered. The one on the east side was a fine large breast, shot 13ft. diam. by 10ft. 8in. wide with three sets of eight iron arms on a wooden rim carrying iron buckets. This wheel was in position but on the point of collapse when I last saw it just before the war, and on a recent visit I was not surprised to find it had been removed. The iron shaft, however, remains, and is of the Medhurst¹⁶ cruciform type 11 in. square.

The pit wheel is 11ft. 6in. diam. and has eight T-section arms with a 2ft. box in two sections. The wheel is wood geared 4¼in. face. It engages a aft. iron 'wallower which is cast with arms and fitted close up to the spur wheel, the latter being a 7ft. double clasp-arm wood 6in. deep in six segments, the upper arms bolted to the top sides of the segments and the lower let in flush. The upright shaft is wood 14in. square at base, octagonal for the wallower and spur mounting and round above. Its brass is mounted on an old mill-stone squared to shape and supported by a substantial brick pier. Of the stone nuts and spindles, only the south set remains; the nut is 14in. iron and the spindle is tin. round with square taper and ring and rod hand turned from beneath to raise the nut out of gear; the bridge-tree is wood 8in. by 7in. The bedstones for the gear on this side of the mill are still in position, a 4ft. Peak and 3ft. 6in. Burr, but the mill was adapted for timber sawing some time before 1900 and it is doubt-ful if any of the stones were put to much use afterwards. The south stone spindle on this side passes through the eye of the bedstone in the usual way, but instead of turning the bar of a runner stone, fits into a clamp carry-ing a 23/4 in. round upright shaft on which is mounted a 14in. wood geared iron bevel engaging an Sin. iron nut on a 3in. shaft extending to the south wall, which was used for belt driving machines across the mill. The crown wheel on the main upright shaft is 4ft. iron wood geared with teeth on top and is 6ft. above floor level, the shaft on this floor being 12in. diam. at floor level tapering to 10½in. the crown wheel and 9½in. octagonal at top bearing.

The water wheel on the west side and the last in use according to the meshing of the sawing gear, is an all iron breast with rims 11ft. 6in. diam. by 3ft. wide. The L-shaped floats bolted on to iron starts, themselves bolted into sockets forming part of the rim casting, are 12in. deep by 5ft. wide, and are 32 in number. The eight arms are double T-section tapering from 6in. to 4½in. with a 13in. square casting into which a loin. cruci-form pattern shaft is keyed. The water shafts at this mill are interesting in that instead of the inner bearings being inside the mill they are each mounted on the mill wall and terminate abruptly on the inner side of their respective pit wheels.

The pit wheel on this side is 8ft. diameter, 8-arm wood geared with 4¾in. face, and is in two sections with a 2ft. centre casting. This wheel is now broken. The upright shaft is wood with a 13in. base extending to 15in. octagonal at the wallower, and there is a tapered 4-fin casting extending l ft. 9in. above the foot-brass which like that on the opposite side of the room is mounted on a 4ft. 6in. discarded mill-stone. The wallower is 3ft. 6in. iron and mounted close to the spur wheel. The latter is a double clasp-arm wood 6ft. 6in. diam. by 7in. deep, the upper and lower arms overlapping the segments. Both stone nuts have been removed, but the bridges remain, the north one broken and both carrying remnants of the nut lifting tackle. The bed-stone of the north pair on this side is in situ, a 4ft. Burr, but the south stones are removed entirely and the floor space boarded over. The upright shaft tapers from 13in. at floor level to 11in. at the crown wheel. The latter is a shapely casting 3ft. 6in. diam. and geared on the underside with wood and is in two halves with cast-on lugs held together with heavy bolts. It is placed 7ft. 6in. above floor level.

The lay-out of the shafting installed when the mill was adapted for sawing is interesting, and is unique in the experience of the writer, who has examined a considerable number of mills covering a wide variety of types through-out the country. 12 and 14 inch nuts from the SE. side of the west crown wheel and SW. side of the east wheel respectively, each drive 2½in. round shafts at an angle to an iron bracket suspended from one of the main cross-beams in the centre of the mill, on which is mounted a 12in. central nut which drives a main shaft to the south wall, where a 3ft. 6in. 4-arm iron bevelled spur engages an 8-in. nut with an 18in. by loin. wide iron belt pulley alongside for conveying the drive to the saw pits placed some distance to the rear of the mill. The shafting is in the form of a letter Y and both driven nuts are lifted by beam and slotted bracket, the west one into gear and the east one out of gear, one being overdriven and the other underdriven to allow for the different directions in which each of the crown wheels turn. The driving nuts each 14in. diam. have bearings which slide along the suspended bracket and can be screwed in or out of gear at will, and either or both brought into use according to the power required. Midway along the central shaft is a 1ft. 6in. wood pulley for belt driving a machine across the mill, and a l bin. iron one for the sack tackle above. The sack-hoist gear is a 3ft. 6in. by 6in. wooden wheel turning an 8in. bollard mounted in a cradle on the top floor.

Mr. Sampson Copestake was associated with this mill in its latter days, having succeeded Mr. A. Morgan in about 1880, but its life as a flour mill was brought to a close only a few years after this date.

An extension built on to the west side of the mill and in front of the wheel housed a steam engine in those days, the bed of which can still be seen. The tail water of the wheel passes under this extension.

Passing under Mock Bridge, this portion of the Adur joins the main river in about one and a half miles.

References

1. In the parish of Keymer. There are no traces of it to-day. Domesday: William de Watevile holds of William de Warrene Chemere (Keymer) 2 mills yielding 12 shillings. Valebridge Mill, north of Burgess Hill, is also in Keymer, as was its predecessor to the NE. and there is a sixteenth-century reference to two fulling, mills in the same parish.

2. The dame of Hammond in this district is better known in connection with the two windmills on Clayton Hill, the family having been associated with them from 1871 to 1904 and with Lodge Farm since 1826. The watermill was known as Hammonds or Hamonds Mill at least as early as 1615.

3. Suss Arch. Coll. v. 58, p. 14.

4. Sussex Weekly Advertiser, July 17.

5. Suss. Rec. Soc. 25.

6. Afterwards Levett & Brown Ltd., but for many years Levett & Co., 127 (now re-numbered 2) Gloucester Road.

7. In Hurstpierpoint parish, 2½f. NNE. of St. John's College.

8. This arrangement, although not common, is not frequently met with in SE. England.

9. Sussex Weekly Advertiser, Jan. 17.

10. Sussex Weekly Advertiser, May 19.

11. In Shermanbury parish, SW. side of Church.

12. Sussex Weekly Advertiser, March 10.

13. Suss. Aech. Coll. v. 69, p. 118.

14. Sussex Weekly Advertiser, Nov. 12.

15. Suss. Arch. Coll., v. 60, p. 63.

16. The one-time well known family of Sussex millwrights, St. Anne's, Lewes.

From Sussex County Magazine 1947

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