Watermills on the River Len

WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN By ROBERT H. GOODSALL THE Len, the Little River as Harris caUed it, which flows from a charming spring in Affers Wood, north of Piatt's Heath and a mUe and a quarter south-west of Lenham, joins the Medway at Maidstone, a distance of eight and a quarter miles as the crow flies and some ten miles by the winding of the stream. Together with its several diminutive tributaries, the Len supported more watermUIs for its length than any other Kent river except the Loose stream which had no less than thhteen mUls along its three-mUes course.1 For this there was a very good reason. Originally all were corn mills, but following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when so many foreigners flocked into the county bringing with them theh Mystery of Cloth working, many settled in the Weald, at Cranbrook and the adjacent vUlages, and for theh work the Len was, to quote Furley,2 " . . . formerly of great service to the clothiers of the Weald, especially in dry seasons, as fullers' earth was found in Leeds . . . and its neighbourhood, where fulling mills were erected, and cloths were brought from different parts of the Weald ' to be thicked ' at these mills." Of the veins of fullers' earth occurring in the Maidstone area of the county, that at Boxley was the largest and most famous,3 but the Leeds quarry situated immediately south of the Len downstream from the bridge carrying the Leeds road, must always have been an important source of supply. Even today it is occasionally worked. There are, no doubt, other deposits along the course of the stream. The writer found traces of fullers' earth at PolhUl in 1939 when superintending the reconstruction of the house after a disastrous fire,4 and it occurs also at Fulhng MU1. Fullers' earth is a soft friable granular clay having a greasy feel and consisting chiefly of silica, alumina and water. When wetted this breaks down into an impalpable powder which has the property of removing grease from woollen cloths and other fabrics. This cleansing property is enthely due to the alumine content in the earth which varies in colour from blue-grey to yellow, the latter being the more valuable for its purpose. 1 James Whatman—Father and Son. Thomas Balston, p. 39, note. 2 History of the Weald of Kent, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 331. 3 Victoria History of the County of Kent, Vol. I l l , p. 331. 4 Stede Hill. Goodsall, p. 18. 106 # Hollwobourne Mills Mill/ "•• Milgate Pcn'k Tanyard Mill Lane Cora Maidstone Milt Park Mill Palace Ti«bw AU faints Chtird) Si>o9»«,oo& Wfcorf _ OTHAM Grove Mill °^ MAIDSTONEf ''*" & Quarry 0»>/Vintets 5 THummM. ff EARSTED GREEN WHITE POST Padsole Mill • HolliflpiJourne Hotise ACKPOST ChtWianS Mill Manor Mill Manor House \ HOLUNaBOURNE 3 Thamham House Otham Mitt nMtll i Mtlflate Lower Dean£ MJWote Park'J ILGtove Mill Venn y Park Mil rttlltns Mill s ' i i $8 OTHAM ^M&nteU IEWHAM Otham Mill ?Stede Cheswo StYeet Mill PotlitU LANGLEY BROOMFIELD Mill Langley Heath iFatrbou.Tite.Mi.il BranQescombe Fvlhng FamBllimn^ Mill -:N. _f* Cottage 0Ze? .A/itt HOLLINGBOURNE V«*<&Wood MI^POND Cottaoe Mitt, ^Cfl—? « r YARDS 1000 500 0 1000 RHG.Dec.J9SZ z,„_as H HhJHHl I [Reproduced from Ordnance Survey Maps with the sanction of the Controller of H.M. Stationeru Office. Crown Copyright Reserved. [face p. 100 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN The operation of fulling—cleansing, scouring and pressing of wooUen materials to render them stronger, firmer and closer in texture— was carried out in a fulling miU, operated by water power. In consequence the process was sometimes known as " milling". The primitive method of fulling was by foot or beating with the hands or with clubs, but early in the Middle Ages, if not before, mechanical means had been evolved by which two wooden hammers, alternately raised and lowered by the action of a revolving drum fitted with a " lift-hammer " mechanism, dropped on to the cloth as it lay in a trough. IVom this it was an obvious step to harness power to turn the drum by connecting it to the spindle of a water-wheel. The first fulling mUls may well have been those mentioned in the earhest Pipe Roll of the Bishop of Winchester (1208-9). The principal parts of a fulling mill (to quote from an early encyclopaedia1) are : the wheel, with its trundle, which gives motion to the tree or spindle, whose teeth communicate that motion to the pestils or stampers, which fall into troughs, wherein the cloth is put, with fullers' earth, to be scoured and thickened by this process of beating it. After the cloth had passed through the fulling mUl the nap had to be combed up, and this was done with. the fuUers' teasel. The wUd teasel is, of course, a common plant of our hedges and copses, and the fullers' variety, Dipsacus fullonum, is probably a cultivated form of the wUd species. Its difference is that the bracts are hooked instead of being straight, hence its value to the fuller. Our member, Mr. John W. Bridge, told the writer that in the past he found the fullers' teasel growing in the vicinity of Maidstone. Of the mills working on the Len at the time of the Domesday Survey the following numbers are recorded : Harrietsham .. Ulcombe Broomfield 2 1 1 Hollingbourne .. .. .. .. .. 2 EInothington Manor in HoUingbourne and Bearsted 2£2 Leeds 5 Thurnham Otham Boxley Maidstone 1 1 33 58 1 The British Cyclopaedia, 1835. s " Half a mill " denotes that the opposite bank of the stream belonged to a different owner and in such cases the mill had two wheels which belonged to their respective owners. Chronicles of Wingham. Arthur Hussey. 8 Of the Boxley and Maidstone mills not all were on the Len. 107 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN Today the flow of the Len water is probably considerably less than it was once, but it can never have been sufficient to operate a mUl-wheel until it reached Harrietsham parish. The two Domesday period mUls in Harrietsham survived as working examples into this century, although now one, Fahbourne, is bereft of its wheel and machinery whUe the other, PolhUl, was demolished in 1928. There is a possible third of much later date if, in fact, the charming Tudor period buUding below the " Woodlands " lake was ever so used. Certainly its position adjacent to this large head of water would suggest the possibUity, but there are now no remains above ground to confirm this, as aU the surrounding area has been converted into a garden pleasance. The buUding almost certainly stands on the site of the first home of the Stedes before the famUy settled at Stede HUl. " The Steeds were of some note in this parish for more than a century before this (21 Hen. VIII) ; for John Steed, senior was resident here in 1460, when by his last wUl he devised his principal mansion at Steed-street in this parish, to William his son."1 Starting with this doubtful mUl site it wUl be convenient to consider in turn each mUl downstream from this point to the Medway conflux. In addition to those which are stUl standing or, where they have been demolished, there are visible remains, others such as Christians at Maidstone have enthely disappeared. In a survey, undated but made probably about 1656, of the manors of " Haresham and Harbleton," one item reads, " A New brick house, 2 water corn mills and three acres of land in ye occupation of Will. Boyce at yeyearly rent of 910.0." The two water corn mills referred to must almost certainly be Fahbourne and PolhiU. FAIBBOURNE MILL From the south the Len is fed by a small brook rising in a quarry spring immediately above Fahbourne Court. This not inconsiderable head of water was reasonably sufficient to turn a mih wheel, although at some seasons it was necessary to pause for an hour or so to allow the mill pond to fill up. The Fahbourne mill stUl remains, but it has been shorn of its wheel and machinery. It bears the date 1796 and in construction is typical of its period, brick waUs to the ground floor, timber framing and weatherboard above and a tUed roof. The wheel was overshot and operated two pahs of stones. In the possession of Messrs. L. J. Clark & Co. Ltd. of Lenham is a " Purchase Ledger of Alexander Bottle, Corn Merchant and MUler of Dover and Fahbourne MUl, Harrietsham," dated 1782. The Bottle family was established at Harrietsham at least as early as the beginning 1 Hasted, Vol. I I , p. 466, note. 108 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN of the seventeenth century. Alexander died at the age of 90 in November, 1797, and he must have been responsible for rebuUding the mUl during the last year of his life. He is chiefly remembered as a skilful local cartographer, and a number of his beautifuUy drawn maps survive, including one of the parish in the writer's possession.1 This ledger came to light among the papers of the late Thomas Clark (1838-1929) who worked the mUl during the nineteenth century. The entries run from 1st January, 1782, to 9th December, 1784. As evidence of the price of wheat in those days the opening entries may be quoted : Jan. 1. Stock in hand unsold £41 0 0 „ 22. From Geo. Viney, Harrietsham. p. 8£ qr wh4 at 37 per qr. w. 56 lbs2 15 14 6 „ 22. From Jn° Bverfield, Harrietsham p. 5 qr wh4 at 40s pr qr w 59 lbs 10 0 0 „ 26. From Thos Weeks, Liverton p. 5 qr wh4 at 40s per qr w. 5 9 | lbs 10 0 0 Not unnaturally many local names figure in the entries over the two years as well as some farming at a distance. Thos TasseU of Ulcomb, Edw Chamber of Grafty, Robert Cuckow, Bocton MaUard, Rob4 Elhs of ditto, Jn° Ashbee of Pluckley, Thos FUmer of Lenham, Wm Shrubsole of Harrietsham, Jn° Pain of Throwley to quote a few. The gross amount paid for all the wheat bought during the year 1782 including " charges for carrying out flour £10.10.0 " amounted to £277 18s. 6d. Alexander seems also to have been engaged in general farming, for a shp of paper preserved in the ledger reads, " Sh, Please to cry for me 3 West Country Sheep Stray'd out of the Ground of Alexander Bottle of Harrietsham marked fresh with a B in a RoundaU on the near side and likewise on the Rump. Stray4 away on Friday 7th of this instand. Whoever shaU give tidings of them so as to have them again shaU have reasonable satisfaction." There is no date to this memorandum and nothing to indicate who the viUage crier may have been. Milling ceased to be carried on at Fahbourne about 1900. POLHELL MILL In 1542 John Stede, representing one branch of the Stede famUy of Harrietsham, acquired PolhUl which earher had belonged to the PolehUles. The property comprised a " mansion house," numerous farm buUdings including no doubt the mUl, although this is not specificaUy mentioned, and a considerable acreage of ground. This John 1 See Stede Hill, pp. 148-9. a Much later the standard weight of a bushell of wheat was fixed by law at 63 1b. 109 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN and his son Thomas, to judge by the Inventory made at the time of the former's death, were actively engaged in " husbendrie."1 By his wUl Thomas Stede left to Matthew, one of his younger sons, " Holme MUl meade " which is shown on the Alexander Bottle map aheady referred to as HolmemUl Green. This led the writer at first to suspect that in the immediate vicinity a water mill once stood, although there is no local memory of this. Close by a convenient stream flows down from the Synden spring to join the Len, and the large lake in the grounds of Park Wood which was artificiaUy created within comparatively recent memory might have absorbed what was originally a mUl pond. However, reference to the map of the Hundred of Eyhorne which accompanies the folio edition of Hasted's History seemed to dispel the suspicion of a mUl having ever existed by Holme MUl Meade, for at the position of PolhUl appear the words " Home MUl." This seemed to be sufficient proof that PolhUl MUl and Holme Mill were in fact one and the same, but when turning to the same map used in the second edition of the History it appears that the word " Home " has been deleted. Why ? Had the descriptive prefix been an error ? Incidentally, careful examination of the two impressions of the map under a magnifying glass seems to show that the original engraved plate used for the first edition was re-used for the second but with many alterations skilfully added to bring it up to date, the new toU road, for example, and many additional place names. Other maps of the period or earher throw no additional hght on the matter, but Mudge's, pre- Ordnance, Survey of 1801, which may be relied upon for considerable accuracy, marks " Stone MUls " at the exact position where Holme MUl might reasonably have been expected to have stood. Here, in the absence of additional evidence, the problem must be left, but it may be significant that WaUenburg gives the derivation of Holm MUl as OE hol(h) " hole hoUow" +myln " mill " with early references from " de Holemiln " 1254 to " ate Holmelle " 1332. Certainly the description " mill in the hoUow " might apply to PolhUl, whUe the earher date would indicate a Domesday site. Sir Edwyn Stede, onetime Lieut. Governor of the Island of Barbados, whUe stUl in the Colony purchased PolhUl as weU as other lands and property in Harrietsham to add to the main Stede HUl estate which had been lost to the famUy owing to his father's support of the Royahst cause.2 Thereafter down to the Baldwin famUy in the nineteenth century PolhUl formed part of the Manor and the tenants in consequence paid quit rent. Unfortunately the manorial records are only fragmentary and mainly in the form of the Stewards' memoranda. Never- 1 Stede HiU, p. 22. 2 Ibid., p. 100. 110 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN theless they do provide evidence of the names of occupiers of the house and mUl from the middle of the seventeenth century. The earhest entry is 1668 when the Homage of the Court Baron presented " that John Ruff en who held of the Mannr One Mess: one Water MUl two peices of land and a Lane caUed HUlyfield and Jacksbrooke and two other peices call'd Penfield and MUl Dane late ye land of John Watts by the yearly rent of Is 8d since ye last Court aliened to Paul Grant gent, who present in Court did his fealty and suit". In 1690 the death was reported to the Court of Peter Theobalds gent, who had held the same. In 1700 the tenant was Stephen Weeks who died in 1726 and was succeeded by his son, John. At the 1824 Court the Homage presented the death of Thomas Martin who had held " by the service of fealty suit of Court " the PolhUl estate as in the time of John Ruffens, " heretofore belonging to John Weeks and afterwards to Thomas Weeks formerly in the occupation of George Cronk and now of John Brazier." A Lease for 21 years from Michaelmas, 1779, is among the Stede HUl muniments whereby Mrs. Ehzabeth Turner, the widow of Wilham Horsmonden Turner, the then lady of the manor granted PolhUl with its mill to Mr. Thomas Knight. The old photograph of PolhUl MiU (Plate II) would suggest that the building which was demolished in 1929 dated from the eighteenth century or possibly late in the seventeenth century. The hon water wheel still remains as a garden feature. CHEGWORTH MILL From PolhUl to within fifty yards of Chegworth MUl Pond, the Len forms the parish boundary between Harrietsham and Ulcombe. The boundary passes to the north of the pond so that Chegworth MUl is in Ulcombe parish and almost certainly represents the Domesday period site. On the derivation of the place-name Wallenburg comments : " I . . . interpret the name of Chegworth as the enclosure full of stubs or the hke or as the enclosure belonging to Oeagga, a man perhaps so nicknamed because of his stumpy thick-set figure." Variant renderings range from " de Chaggewurd " 1200 to " de Chegworth " 1336. A series of deeds in the Kent Archives Office1 concern the ownership of Chegworth MUl in the middle of the seventeenth century. An Indenture of the 20th November, 1658, recites that " a messuage and mUl commonly called the lower MUl2 " situated in the parish of Ulcombe at a place caUed Checkwood " late purchased by Sh Cheney Culpeper " 1 U 23 T 63. 2 A second mill in Ulcombe parish was worked by a stream flowing down to the river Beult. I l l WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN of Leeds Castle, co. Kent, Kt., had belonged to Thomas Hatche1 and Richard Austen. The Indenture between Sir Cheney Culpeper and Thomas StUes of Ulcombe, yeoman, is concerned with certain rights of way appertaining to the owner of the MUl " for aU tyme whereof the memory of Man is not to the contrary " rights to " goe ride and drive and carriage with Wagons Carts Horses or otherwise at aU tymes in the year from the said Messuage and Mill into over and through severaU pceiis 0f Land and Closes " the property of Thomas StUes. One such way led through a field caUed " RedhUl" from the MUl " unto the Comon highway there from Chechwood towards Ulcombe Church, another through a wood caUed " Chequerwood " from the mUl to two pieces of land caUed " Rushyfield " also " over and through a certain lane and the backside or backclose of him the sd Thomas StUes." By agreement Sh Cheney Culpeper agreed to accept only one way through the closes and over or through " two Hommetts or little pieces of land of the sd Thomas StUes caUed his hempeplatt and his hopplot and into over or through the backside of the said house." With so many mUls estabhshed along the Len the control of the flow of water must have been an ever-present problem, and one which might easUy occasion friction between one mUler and another. It is therefore interesting to learn from-another deed in the same series that legal and binding agreements were entered upon laying down the duties and rights in this respect of both millers and landowners. This deed is an Agreement dated 10th Nov. 1657 between John Pecke of Ulcombe, mUler and the present owner of a Corn Mill at Checkwood in Ulcombe, and Sh Cheney Culpeper. The use of the words " the present owner " suggest that Sh Cheney, who ten days later became possessed of the property, was retaining Pecke as his tenant for the agreement was to last for seven years. It has five clauses : First The said John Pecke grants unto the said Sh Cheney Culpeper the right of having from time to time and at aU times hereafter aU the waste water not used for grinding corn to pass over a floodgate or penstock standing on the lands of the said Sh Cheney. Secondly For the better assurance of the overplus the said John Pecke doth covenant and agree that he wUl at aU times keep the watergutt of the said MUl pond soe pende up and at such height that the overplus of water which formerly hath and hereafter might pass through the waste gutter belonging to the mUl pond may freely run over a flood gate or penstock standing on the lands of Sh Cheney Culpeper. Thirdly. The said John Pecke wUl " at aU tymes keep ye mill gutt and ye gutt that lies over the wheel of the sd MUl with water soe close pende up and shut whensoever the said mUl doth not grind any 1 Probably the bell-founder and father of the more famous William. 112 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN corne that the water at the tyme when the mUl gringes any corne passes or runs upon the wheel of the said miU from tyme to tyme and at aU tymes may freely passe and run over the said fflodgate or penstock standing in the lands of the said Sh Cheney Culpeper. Fourthly. In case by reason of any great fioode or raine hee (John Pecke) shaU bee forced for the security of the bay belonging to the said miUpond to draw up or open the said water gutt in this case the said John Pecke shall draw upp and open the said waste gutt in such manner and quantity as at other tymes when the mUl doth not goe. Fifthly. The said Sh Cheney Culpeper on his part agrees not at any tyme hereafter to draw up or open his penstock or floodgate whereby to draw downe the water lower than its ordinary height or any way hinder or deprive yB said mill of its ordinary strength for ye grinding of corne. Chegworth is the only miU left on the Len which is still used for grinding corn by water power, although at times an agricultural tractor supplements this. The present hon overshot wheel is of nineteenthcentury date. The building, which is of typical Kent type, brick and Kent rag walling to the first floor, timber framing and weather boarding above and tUed roof, was erected at three different periods. The oldest part which houses the machinery is probably of eighteenth-century date. A century ago the mUl was worked by William Taylor who operated other miUs on the river, including Padsole in Maidstone which he built as a flour mill. LEEDS CASTLE MILL The Domesday Survey records one mill in Broomfield parish. This was almost certainly the miU which formed part of the Outworks of the Castle. Wykeham Martin inclined to the vieAv1 that Hamo de Crevecoeur was the builder of the Barbican and MUl rather than his father Robert. " I t never can be supposed that the first Robert de Crevecoeur buUt the mUl in 1100." But as Domesday was completed in 1086 and if this mill represents the one recorded in Broomfield, it must either antedate Robert's work or have replaced an earlier building. The mill stood abreast one of the causeways leading to the Inner Barbican, the weakest of three approach embankments. A channel conveyed the water to the mUl wheel from the adjoining moat, which, of course, has always been fed by the Len, a deep pit being constructed to contain the wheel. WhUe originaUy the mUl was intended to grind corn, by the fourteenth century on the evidence of Patent Roll (Chancery) 46 Edw. I l l , m. 18, it was possibly adapted for fuUing. The following is a translation : 1 Leeds Castle, p. 71. 113 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN For John de The King to whom, etc., greeting. Know ye that, Beverley whereas on the seventh day of March in the forty-first year of our reign over England (A.D. 1368) by our letters patent we granted and to farm demised for us and our hehs to our well beloved Thomas Burgeys, of Smarden co. Kent, one fulling mUl with the appurtenances, which the same Thomas built on the water issuing from our out-pool next our Castle of Leeds, and three acres of land with the appurtenances in our manor of Leeds, through the midst of which the said water runs, To have and to hold (etc.) rendering for the same thhty-three shillings and four pence by the year at the feasts of Easter and St. Michael in equal portions. . . . In witness whereof Witness the King at Westminster on the 26th day of October. By Writ of Privy Seal. It must be admitted that the statement that the fulling mUl was built by Thomas Burgeys is difficult to reconcile with the apparently earlier date of the Castle mUl. Perhaps Burgeys converted this to fulling, or alternatively he may have erected another mUl lower down stream, aU memory of which has been lost, unless possibly " Old MUl " on the parish boundary between HoUingbourne and Leeds was his work. HOLLINGBOURNE MANOR MILL From the foot of the North Downs a tributary stream not much more than a mile and a quarter long known as Snakebrook or Snagbrook flows down to join the parent Len a httle to the east of the Leeds road bridge. This water provided power for four mills. The stream originates at the mill pond lying immediately south-west of the Manor House. The octogenarian occupant of the existing mill house told the writer that no less than sixteen springs maintain the water level of the pond which the deeds shortly to be referred to give as " 3 roods 13 perches in extent." It is most unfortunate that the Fahfax-Wykeham Martin muniments of the Leeds Castle Estate, although believed to be stUl in existence, are not avahable for research, for they would no doubt throw much light on the early history of the mills in Leeds and Hollingbourne when the land was possessed by the Culpepers and earher owners. However, luckily at the County Archives Office there is one bundle of deeds1 which cover legal transactions following upon the death of William Culpeper, concerning a leasehold interest in the " water mill, house adjoining and the mUl dam " which became vested in John Spencer Culpeper, WUliam's son, and towards the end of the eighteenth * U 285 T. 14. 114 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN century passed with the Manorial rights, the manor house and some land to Francis ChUd, the great London banker. Very briefly the story is as foUows : By his wUl dated 3rd February, 1709, a certain Abraham Beake of London, merchant, gave the sum of £2,000 to his wife Margaret and his kinsman, Samuel Winder, to be laid out in the purchase of lands and tenements for the use of his niece, Ehzabeth GUI,1 then Ehzabeth Colepeper, wife of William Culpeper, during her life and then to her first-son. This bequest led in 1717 to a cause being heard in the High Court of Chancery when it was decreed that the £2,000 should be laid out in the purchase of land pursuant of Beake's wUl, and by a subsequent order of the Court of 8th July, 1727, it was dhected that South Sea Stock and Annuities (in which the £2,000 had been invested) should be sold and paid to Thomas Freke, who was a trustee of the estate, upon his executing conveyances of two leasehold properties then held of the Dean and Chapfer of Canterbury, one being of the site and demesnes of the Manor of Hollingbourne and the other of the MUl, MUl House and Dam. It was further recited that WUham Culpeper and Ehzabeth his wife were dead, having left issue, John Spencer, Thomas, Francis, Elizabeth, Cornelia and Anne. The end of the Culpeper association with the estates is told in an Indenture of 19th August, 1762, by which the three surviving trustees of the Marriage Settlement of John Spencer and his wife, Ruth, who was " the youngest daughter of Nathaniel Webb of the Island of Mountserat in the West Indies " in consideration of the sum of £4,732 13s. lOd. (which sum was applied to paying off a mortgage on the property) conveyed the two leases to Francis Child, the London banker. In 1839 the lessee was the Earl of Jersey, and in 1868 the Hon. Frederick William Child Villiers ,and Charles Fane esq. The existing mUl building with the adjoining house seemingly precariously situated below the high mUl pond dam, is of brick with a slate roof. The mill has not worked for many years, but the waterwheel, completely overgrown by vegetation, is still in position, the water cascading unchecked to create a picture that would surely have rejoiced the eye of an early topographical artist. The mUl was probably always used for grinding corn, and there is no evidence to suggest that fulling was ever carried out here. CORN MILL, EYHORNE STREET The six-inch Ordnance Survey map of 1898 marks this as " Corn Mill (Disused)." The buUding, a small one, stood immediately downstream from the Eyhorne road bridge on the east bank of the stream. 1 Possibly a relation of George Gill, the Boxley papermaker. 115 WATERMILLS ON THE RIVER LEN There is httle if any evidence of this now. The Tithe Assessment Schedule of 1839 provides the information that the then owner was James Bunyard, and the occupier Symonds, who, no doubt, worked it in conjunction with the Abbey MUl. The property was described as " Corn MUl, House and Yard." GROVE MILL AND PARK MILL, HOLLINGBOURNE • It wUl be convenient to consider these two mUls, the one a little down stream from Eyhorne Street and the other just north of the main A20 highway, together. During the whole of the nineteenth century and probably from the early part of the eighteenth century also, these mUls were used for paper making, the highest up-stream mUls to be devoted to the trade. With the decline of clothworking in the Weald the Len fulling mUls ceased to be needed for the purpose and, as wUl become apparent later, a number were converted or rebuilt to operate as paper mUls. The moving sphits in this new local enterprise were Richard Harris, George GUI and his son WUliam, and the Whatmans, father and son. The long and somewhat involved story of these papermakers and theh descendants has been told very fully in two books, James Whatman— Father and Son and William Balston, Paper Maker, by Thomas Balston. It is unnecessary, therefore, to cover ground aheady. so amply traversed except to outline the story and add certain detaUs that have come to the writer's notice. In his recently pubhshed and exhaustive work Paper Mills and Paper Makers in England 1495-1800,1 Dr. Alfred H. Shorter gives a number of references to paper makers operating in Hollingbourne parish during the latter part of the eighteenth and the early years of the nineteenth centuries. A certain James Austen of Chatham insured his new-buUt paper mUl in Hollingbourne in 1762 which two years later was in the tenure of WUliam Avery, paper maker. Robert Williams, paper maker, occupied a house in Eyhorne Street in 1764 and in 1775 " insured his utensils and stock in the paper miU." It is not possible to say which of the two mUls this might have been. In 1803 the firm of Stroud and Newman were working " Cotterams MUl" (perhaps to be identified as Grove MUl), whUe in 1816 Thomas Stroud and Daniel Denny Newman were described as " master paper makers " o f New MUl. The Tithe Assessment schedule shows that in 1839 Grove and Park MUls were being worked by Edward and Charles HorsenaUs, papermakers. The owner of Grove MUl was Richard Barnard with the 1 Published by the Paper Publications Society, Hilversum, Holland, MCMLVII. 116 PLATE I Fairbourne Mill. PLATE II l_ • kJBi *#r ,;AY1 Is t . i . M ? r - _P*C *r « Polhill Mill, Harrietsham, about 190"). [face p. 116 PLATE III PLATE IV Chegworth Mill. Hollingbourne Manor Mill. PLATE V Leeds Abbey Mill. PLATE VI 5 • if '. ' • -:.' ' '/' ,i£' > i '... *£ ^ .. r" g * tt ,,, ! p V 5 I * • 'I ;5_F i ..n • f". Ip ''i.«__4w§?" JB n »sr psls* jjt* $ ' ~*? '.?§•*•* •AT f ;'••,