Thursday, April 20, 2006

Mill Architecture


Form and function

Evidence suggests that corn milling at Crabble goes back to thirteenth century. Most likely there was a natural spring-fed pond or a widening of the river at this pont. It being an ideal site, mills have been built there ever since.

Being functional structures they were built, not to look pretty on the landscape, but a practical utilitarian job to do using whatever materials were available locally and cheaply, often reclaimed, secondhand timbers and so on. Certainly, in our Crabble Mill there still remains some timbers which pre-date the Mill, most likely older ships timbers.

Our Mill was build in a number of stages and the 1812 version did not look like this. Certainly there was no annex (the two storey extension), it could have been five storeys not six, and it had a different waterwheel configuration. This Mill originally co-existed with the previous little mill (mentioned in a previous post), and as business grew and technology improved the Mill grew and was extended a number of times.

The rooves were made of tar and papier mache as they had to span large areas with small internal roof supports, and also the pitch of the rooves were very shallow. Therefore, slates or tiles were unsuitable. Paper would have been plentiful, probably sourced from the paper mills down stream. Now, in our Restoration in 1990 we replaced tar and papier mache with a more practical solution and covered the rooves with a coated stainless steel.

The building structure of this 'machine' comprises 2.5 storeys made from brick in order to provide a strong and solid base to house the prime movement of the waterwheel, the main internal gearings and the millstones. There is a massive about of weight and movement for it to 'hold'. The upper 3.5 storeys are timber framed with weather cladding. This is not because they ran out of bricks! It's because this has to be much more flexible and be able to move and absorb the energies more of the mechanisms contained within i.e. the seperators, cleaners and graders. It also has to contain all the different storage bins. So, you can see that the upper storeys had a different function that the lower.

The brickwork is laid in 'Flemish Bond' which contrasts from modern style brickworks. There's no cavity walls. Some of the headers are a metallic purple which is caused by vitrification in the kiln.

The windows are sash with the tradition of twelve panes and set in an approximate symetrical configuration. Shutters are required for practical purposes.

The lucam is the top housing projecting out, which protects the hoist gear. Almost beneath it on level 4 a hood covers the vent extractor system. On the opposite side of the Mill on the top level there's another vent which is connected to the smutter. Our old pictures show that the smuts were not just blown out into the atmosphere but were taken down a long trunking to the river.

The most recent necessary alterations to the Mill are the stairtower and the bridge. Both were added in the 1990's Restoration in order to meet modern requirements (and convenience) to allow public access into the Mill and up through the Mill tower.

The entrance to the Tea Room, previously was simply a door to enable the miller to access the waterwheel enclosure and also up the centre bank ("bund") to use the regulating sluice between the pond and river which probably had to be done twice a day.

The weir is zig-zag shaped to allow a slow 'overflow' of surplus energy with minimum disturbance. As well as the dam walls which need maintenance, there are also 4 sluice mechanisms. The main waterwheel sluice to power the Mill is located at the midpoint of the wheel (hence the it being a 'breastshot' type). There should be a sluice to control the flow between the millpond and the river, there are also two sluices regulate the water levels of the both the river and the pond.

The built waterways are a 'headrace' to feed the waterwheel, a 'by-pass' to take away energy surplus to requirement, a 'tailrace' to guide the outflow from the Mill downstream to the point of convergence meeting the by-pass.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Site layout


Production & Operation

Here's the 'lay of the land' as to how the Mill complex worked in some of it's busy years.

Evidence suggests that the previous Crabble Corn Mill was still in tact and working but with just one set of millstones (this is in close proximity to where the Tea Room is located now). It's likely, around this time that the 1812 mill was upgraded with a new waterwheel and governor systems, and additional millstones added.

Ancillary Buildings: The barns, granary, drying kilns and maintenance workshops were all on the other side of the river by-pass.

Millyard: In the yard were also two of the mill cottages along with, we understand, a stable for "Smiler" the horse and a small coach house for the cart. Cottage refurbishment and creating a permanent 'home' again for the cart is part of the next stage of the Regeneration Project.

Watercourses: The miller used the flowing water of the river Dour during the early part of the working day. When the river flow depleted, he would use the 'reserve tank of energy'. He opened the regulating sluice between the millpond and the river to allow the stored energy toward the waterwheel. At the end of the day he would drop the sluice again so the millpond would replenish overnight.
The weir allowed energy, surplus to requirements, to flow passed the mill and rejoin the river further downstream. It's zig-zag shaped to give a larger surface area so as not to cause a drag, pulling water the from where it's needed most, at the waterwheel.
There are other two regulating sluices along with the main sluice-board to the waterwheel.

All of this is subject to an elaborate conservation and management development plan in consultation and partnership with the Environment Agency and Rivers Authority, among others.

So much of the locality has been developed for housing in recent times and the mill ancillary buildings are either demolished or converted into more houses. It's important, for many reasons, to hang on to what remains and prevent this reduction happening further. One fundamental reason is the conservation and protection of England's sites of important industrial archaeology, such as this Mill. Hence it's Grade Two Star listing. The local designated Conservation Area is because of the Mill property, including it's remaining built structures, it's environs including the pond and the natural habitat of the flora and fauna.

Site plan, courtesy of Doug Welby

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Flour Power: wholemeal from organic grain


"Separating The Wheat From The Chaff"

The millstones at Crabble are the finest french burr quartz, quarried from the Champagne region of France. There are five sets of stones which, in the 19th century was an enormous capacity, and all powered just by the slow turning of the large waterwheel. We have restored three pairs for potential operation, but usually just use the one set. We still mill to produce flour by using waterpower. Our organic wheat is a mixture to produce a high quality stoneground wholemeal flour available in various sizes:

1.5 kg & 500g bags handy for domestic use
32 kg & 16 kg sacks mainly for commercial bakers

Our range of flour and bread mixes are:
  • Strong White Flour
  • Stoneground Wholemeal
  • Light Brown Flour
  • Dark Brown Flour
  • Sunflower Seed Bread Mix
  • Organic Mixed Seed Bread Mix
Crabble Mill has always been proud to manufacture a premium Kentish product as you see from this label, "1st Prize Loaf made from Mannerings Gold Medal Meal, at The Confectioners Bakers & Allied Trades Exhibition, London."

Another label "Pure Bread - The millers W & E Mannering guarantee that the flour supplied for this bread is free from chemical or gas treatment and is the pure product of the wheat berry."

If you'd like to try baking some of the Crabble recipes, or would like current prices of flour just ask.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

What's in a name


"crab apples by the water hole"

Whilst we were restoring the Mill, Doug Welby was also researching and writing his book (currently available at the Mill Shop). Doug descibes Crabble as "the place where crab apples were grown." He goes on to explain ....

"In Old English this appears as 'Crabble hol' ('hol' meaning lying in a hollow). By the 13th centrury this had changed to 'Crabbe hole'. Over the centuries Crabwell and Crabblewell have emerged suggesting a source of obtaining water.

"'Crappol Myll' would also indicate the existance of a mill in earlier times, whether to grind corn or to crush crab apples is speculative. However, it is most likely that crab apples had been grown at 'Crabble' for more than a thousand years. Even in Roman times, crab apples were stored as ripened and dried fruit, and also crushed to produce cider or the liquid sold as a culinary item called 'verjuice'."

Reflections Of River, The Kentish Village
by Doug Welby
ISBN 0-906124-17-4

Diary Dates


More reasons to celebrate more

Check out events at the Mill. The Crabble Beer Festival 26 & 27 May. It's also not too late to sponsor a barrell of beer at the If this interests you contact graham@crabblecornmill.org.uk.

Or, just come along on these key national dates of celebration:

National Bread Week, 11 - 17 April

National Mills Weekend, 13 & 14 May

British Sandwich Week, 14 -20 May

National Vegetarian Week, 22 - 29 May

National BBQ Week, 29 May to 4 June

National Food Safety Week, 12 - 19 June

English Wine Week, 27 June - 4 July

The Great British Beer Festival, 1 - 5 August

National Organic Week, 3 - 11 September

British Food Fortnight, 23 September - 8 October

British Cheese Week, 30 September - 8 October

National Seafood Week, 6 - 13 October

Apple Day, 21 October

If I missed any important days or there's others to add, please let me know.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Sponsored Solutions


Technologies Together, old and new

State of the art information and communications technology meets the hi-tec of yesteryear (i.e. mechanical automation by waterpower, the Mill). We'll be hosting promotional events at the Mill, beginning later in the year.

I'll find it particularly exciting to see the two technologies come together when their computer-based electronics are all powered by our new micco-hydropower generators. Waterpowered computers, screens etc., then we really will have come 'full circle'!

Business Computer Solutions based in East Kent, met me and some of the Mill team and decided The Eco Project would be interesting to support and get involved with. Their sponsorship includes the supply of a PC, laptop, networking hardware and installation labour. They are also providing a new domain name, email and a web space. The new web site will focus on The Eco Project rather than the original rescue project phase from a number of years ago.

After agreeing to support the Project they have also helped the preservation trust by introducing them to a telecoms provider e2connect who has agreed to provide a call answering system and an ADSL internet provision.

The Wi Fi internet connection will shortly be available to visitors in the Mill Tea Room who want to use their laptop. Also coming soon, most of the education and interpretation resources will be accessible online, thereby making it much easier for schools and other research enquiries.

A big thank you to BCS!