Pann Mill

A few posts ago (here) I wrote about a beautifully restored windmill and about how much I respect enthusiasts who keep these things going. I saw another such project closer to home last week. Pann Mill, just a short walk from High Wycombe's town centre, now has a working waterwheel and is once again able to grind wheat into flour.

It is the last operating water mill on the river Wye, a tributary of the Thames. At one time there were 37 water mills along the 11 miles from its source at West Wycombe to the Thames at Bourne End. The first record of Pann Mill is in the Domesday census of 1086, one of six mills on the river at the time. The first Pann Mill was probably associated with the Hospital of St John the Baptist, the ruins of which are still visible in Easton Street opposite the mill. 

The records of 100 years later show that the mill was then owned by the Pinel family, and it is probably from this family that Pann Mill derived its name. 

   

Ownership of the mill changed many times over the years, and an archaeological dig discovered that major rebuilding took place on at least 3 occasions. The oldest remains found dated from the 14th century. 

The most recent mill was built in 1759, with a new waterwheel and milling machinery fitted in around 1860. Commercial milling ended in 1967, and in 1971 the mill buildings and the associated miller's house were demolished as a part of a road widening scheme. The road widening did not take place as originally planned, so the High Wycombe Society undertook some restoration of the mill and its machinery. 

The present, much smaller, mill building was designed by a Society member, Colin Kennedy, originally to preserve the machinery remaining from the demolition. A significant donation of funds from Marks & Spencer, to celebrate their centenary in 1984, together with concerted fundraising by the Society, enabled the building to be erected. Of course, once the building existed it needed to be filled! The previous mill had the traditional three floors, whereas the present building has only two. The top floor was a grain store. Sacks of grain were hauled up by a sack hoist and stored until needed. Subsequent movement of grain was as much as possible by gravity. In the present mill grain is still stored on the top floor, but in bins close to the mill stones.

The restoration project continues to this day. 

It's said that if you can drop water 4 feet, you can harness enough energy to drive a wheel and grind grain.There was a time when this free, clean energy drove most of the UK's industry. It also created, as a by-product, millponds and 'heads' of water where wildlife could thrive. Plus, of course, these places are beautiful.

I'd much rather sit and watch a watermill than watch a power station.

The Mill's website is here.