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Dragon_Urbex
Guest
Guest
Harvington Mill is a beautiful, long derelict little water mill on the River Avon, not too far from Evesham. It was built sometime between 1790 and 1800 and is built of red brick. It is a rectangular building with two enormous, 20ft cast iron water wheels – the western wheel was undershot, and the eastern wheel was also undershot. Each wheel powered two pairs of mill stones to grind wheat and barley into flour. These are all still extant, albeit in a deconstructed state. The cast iron pit wheels and gearing systems are all still in situ, though rusted and seized to buggery and back. It was listed in 1994 and is a Grade II listed building.
The Explore:
My friend @Landie_Man and I rocked up nearby at around half past six in the evening. At that point, it was incredibly foggy, cold and frosty, being a freezing January evening. We trudged to the mill, with me getting increasingly irate as both my phone and torch decided to go on the blink in quick succession! We got to the mill and then spent about an hour trying to find a way inside, and eventually, after much effing and blinding, we were both inside. The interior of the mill lacks floors, so it was pretty damn dangerous at night. However, the machinery and features inside made up for the extreme difficulty of gaining access and also the filth we were both covered in! We spent around an hour inside the mill taking photographs (having to light paint and do long exposures thanks to the almost zero light levels) and then we exited whereupon poor Landie slipped and ended up knee deep in muddy water and then went on a huge rant about how if we collected stamps we would not be knee deep in muddy water and filthy and would be warm in a chair staring at stamps. We then left after taking a couple of long exposure externals. Overall, it was a lovely explore!
1) Outside view of the mill. It is well hidden by shrubs and ivy and you wouldn't know it was there unless you knew what you were looking for.
2) The western machinery is more easily photographed as there isn't tons of crap in the way. Lots of the rosewood teeth on the large gear that powered the stones are missing.
3) The large pitwheel.
4) Showing the machinery: pit wheel and associated workings. The large central gear has wooden teeth made of rosewood. The reasoning behind this is that the notches are easy to replace if one breaks. Cast iron teeth broke easily and were very expensive to repair or replace.
5) One of the smaller gears with the millstone above it. This gear would have spun the top cap stone and high speeds to grind the grain to flour.
6) I'm not particularly sure what this machine was, but it could have been to do with shifting grain around.
7) A French mill stone. These had grooves cut into them, making them different to normal stones.
8) A mill stone.
9) A large cast iron wheel.
10) The western pair of mill stones. Note the lack of floor.
11) The machinery to power the sack hoist.
12) The sack hoist gearing - this was attached to the gearing of the main water wheel and hoisted sacks of grain up to the attic area where the miller loaded the grain into hoppers above the stones.
13) The second water wheel from above. It's enormous, much bigger than it looks on camera.
Thanks for readin'!
The Explore:
My friend @Landie_Man and I rocked up nearby at around half past six in the evening. At that point, it was incredibly foggy, cold and frosty, being a freezing January evening. We trudged to the mill, with me getting increasingly irate as both my phone and torch decided to go on the blink in quick succession! We got to the mill and then spent about an hour trying to find a way inside, and eventually, after much effing and blinding, we were both inside. The interior of the mill lacks floors, so it was pretty damn dangerous at night. However, the machinery and features inside made up for the extreme difficulty of gaining access and also the filth we were both covered in! We spent around an hour inside the mill taking photographs (having to light paint and do long exposures thanks to the almost zero light levels) and then we exited whereupon poor Landie slipped and ended up knee deep in muddy water and then went on a huge rant about how if we collected stamps we would not be knee deep in muddy water and filthy and would be warm in a chair staring at stamps. We then left after taking a couple of long exposure externals. Overall, it was a lovely explore!
1) Outside view of the mill. It is well hidden by shrubs and ivy and you wouldn't know it was there unless you knew what you were looking for.
2) The western machinery is more easily photographed as there isn't tons of crap in the way. Lots of the rosewood teeth on the large gear that powered the stones are missing.
3) The large pitwheel.
4) Showing the machinery: pit wheel and associated workings. The large central gear has wooden teeth made of rosewood. The reasoning behind this is that the notches are easy to replace if one breaks. Cast iron teeth broke easily and were very expensive to repair or replace.
5) One of the smaller gears with the millstone above it. This gear would have spun the top cap stone and high speeds to grind the grain to flour.
6) I'm not particularly sure what this machine was, but it could have been to do with shifting grain around.
7) A French mill stone. These had grooves cut into them, making them different to normal stones.
8) A mill stone.
9) A large cast iron wheel.
10) The western pair of mill stones. Note the lack of floor.
11) The machinery to power the sack hoist.
12) The sack hoist gearing - this was attached to the gearing of the main water wheel and hoisted sacks of grain up to the attic area where the miller loaded the grain into hoppers above the stones.
13) The second water wheel from above. It's enormous, much bigger than it looks on camera.
Thanks for readin'!
