This is my first report so here goes (bit dated, sorry!)
The History:
It’s been done on this site before, but I researched some extra details.
There is some history on Three Bridges Mill available online but also in particular in the book “The Mills of Buckinghamshire” by Stanley Freese of which I bought a copy to understand the history of this building in more detail.
A mill, thought to be at the site of the current Three Bridges Mill was recorded in the Doomsday book of 1085. At that time it was named Cowley Mill and belonged to Preston Bisset Manor. The earliest deeds for the property (handwritten of course) refer to it as Tunbridge Mill. However, as early as 1788 maps that I found record a Three Bridges Mill at the site, so it has retained its current name for at least 250 years or so.
The mill shown on an OS map of 1885
The mill house (but not the mill building itself) suffered a serious fie in 1868. In 1875 a stationary steam engine was added by the Burton family the same year that they moved in. This was presumably to assist with driving the equipment, perhaps particularly in summer when water levels were lower. There is no sign of this today.
The mill was powered by a water wheel until conversion to a water turbine some time after it was visited by Stanley Freese in 1939 for his book, presumably to improve the efficiency of the mill. The water wheel being described in Stanley's book as 13ft in diameter and 6ft wide, but of an inefficient design that wasted water (hence later upgrade to a water turbine).
In the late C18th and C19th, the mill was owned and operated by several generations of the Foster family. Later, the Burtons who installed the steam engine inhabited the mill only for a few years (1875-1878). At some point between 1880 & 1900 the Taylor family took over at Three Bridge Mill. During much of the C20th, the mill was used to mill maize and corn (wheat & barley) for R.G. Taylor & Sons bulk animal feeds family run business which was based there. During the C20th the mill operated two pairs of grindstones and is generally thought to have ceased milling in 1982, although there is one report of it having operated to some extent as recently as 2006, presumably only using the limited extant machinery that remains in the mill today.
An RG Taylor animal feeds lorry clearly showing Three Bridge Mill, Buckingham on the side, probably about early 1970s.
My Taylor continued to live in the building following his retirement until he died in 2011. The building wasn’t sold however until 2017, when it changed hands for £630,000. Since then nothing has happened to the mill other than being mostly cleared.
The explore:
I explored this at the end of May 2024 (but only just got around to posting – sorry!). I visited on a Saturday morning, parking in a gateway on the main road and walked the 150 yards or so to the mill. While there was quite a bit of low level activity in the adjacent commercial yard and someone strimming nearby (both of which helped cover any of my noise), no-one came near the property while I was there. The adjacent public footpath was closed when I was there, related to HS2 works half a mile beyond the mill. The whole mill (3 floors) and the rear of the mill house were accessible (and definitely the most interesting anyway). The front of the mill house and its upstairs were not accessible, being locked shut. The garages are worth looking in too. Out of respect for the families who used to live there, I haven’t posted the framed/mounted topless pictures that I found in there with other memorabilia!
On with the photos. I have a 15yr old Canon camara with terrible dynamic range so some of these shots are composites of different exposures. I have tried to avoid too much of a horrible HDR effect!
This is first floor level in the mill building
Other than a drive shaft and sack hoist, the second floor level has lost all its equipment.
I believe this is the head of the turbine; the river flowing under this section of the mill
Lovely peeling paint
1950s water softener. By appoint to His Majesty the late King George V!
Into the garage and we find a box of 1920s-1940s letters.
Next to the garage one of the old millstones was lying next to the river
And finally some historic photos of the Mill from 1991 when it was still inhabited; the feed river / mill pond at the back has clearly been drained for some reason in the second shot below.:
And the current front of the mill house (right) and mill (left)
The History:
It’s been done on this site before, but I researched some extra details.
There is some history on Three Bridges Mill available online but also in particular in the book “The Mills of Buckinghamshire” by Stanley Freese of which I bought a copy to understand the history of this building in more detail.
A mill, thought to be at the site of the current Three Bridges Mill was recorded in the Doomsday book of 1085. At that time it was named Cowley Mill and belonged to Preston Bisset Manor. The earliest deeds for the property (handwritten of course) refer to it as Tunbridge Mill. However, as early as 1788 maps that I found record a Three Bridges Mill at the site, so it has retained its current name for at least 250 years or so.
The mill shown on an OS map of 1885
The mill house (but not the mill building itself) suffered a serious fie in 1868. In 1875 a stationary steam engine was added by the Burton family the same year that they moved in. This was presumably to assist with driving the equipment, perhaps particularly in summer when water levels were lower. There is no sign of this today.
The mill was powered by a water wheel until conversion to a water turbine some time after it was visited by Stanley Freese in 1939 for his book, presumably to improve the efficiency of the mill. The water wheel being described in Stanley's book as 13ft in diameter and 6ft wide, but of an inefficient design that wasted water (hence later upgrade to a water turbine).
In the late C18th and C19th, the mill was owned and operated by several generations of the Foster family. Later, the Burtons who installed the steam engine inhabited the mill only for a few years (1875-1878). At some point between 1880 & 1900 the Taylor family took over at Three Bridge Mill. During much of the C20th, the mill was used to mill maize and corn (wheat & barley) for R.G. Taylor & Sons bulk animal feeds family run business which was based there. During the C20th the mill operated two pairs of grindstones and is generally thought to have ceased milling in 1982, although there is one report of it having operated to some extent as recently as 2006, presumably only using the limited extant machinery that remains in the mill today.
An RG Taylor animal feeds lorry clearly showing Three Bridge Mill, Buckingham on the side, probably about early 1970s.
My Taylor continued to live in the building following his retirement until he died in 2011. The building wasn’t sold however until 2017, when it changed hands for £630,000. Since then nothing has happened to the mill other than being mostly cleared.
The explore:
I explored this at the end of May 2024 (but only just got around to posting – sorry!). I visited on a Saturday morning, parking in a gateway on the main road and walked the 150 yards or so to the mill. While there was quite a bit of low level activity in the adjacent commercial yard and someone strimming nearby (both of which helped cover any of my noise), no-one came near the property while I was there. The adjacent public footpath was closed when I was there, related to HS2 works half a mile beyond the mill. The whole mill (3 floors) and the rear of the mill house were accessible (and definitely the most interesting anyway). The front of the mill house and its upstairs were not accessible, being locked shut. The garages are worth looking in too. Out of respect for the families who used to live there, I haven’t posted the framed/mounted topless pictures that I found in there with other memorabilia!
On with the photos. I have a 15yr old Canon camara with terrible dynamic range so some of these shots are composites of different exposures. I have tried to avoid too much of a horrible HDR effect!
This is first floor level in the mill building
Other than a drive shaft and sack hoist, the second floor level has lost all its equipment.
I believe this is the head of the turbine; the river flowing under this section of the mill
Lovely peeling paint
1950s water softener. By appoint to His Majesty the late King George V!
Into the garage and we find a box of 1920s-1940s letters.
Next to the garage one of the old millstones was lying next to the river
And finally some historic photos of the Mill from 1991 when it was still inhabited; the feed river / mill pond at the back has clearly been drained for some reason in the second shot below.:
And the current front of the mill house (right) and mill (left)
