River Len
The River Len is a river in Kent, England. It rises at a spring in Bluebell Woods to the southeast of the village centre of Lenham from the source of the River Great Stour; both rise on the Greensand Ridge. Its length is c. It enters the River Medway at Maidstone.
The river flows in a generally westerly direction. Today it runs parallel with the M20 motorway for much of the first part of its journey: it passes between the hamlet of Fairbourne Heath and Harrietsham; after Broomfield, the river becomes the lake adjoining Leeds Castle. The Len enters the town of Maidstone south of Bearsted and its waters become the lake in Mote Park; and it enters the River Medway c beyond.
The river powered a number of watermills on itself and its tributaries in the parishes of Ulcombe, Leeds, Hollingbourne, Boxley and Maidstone.
Watermills
The River Len powered a number of watermills, from source to mouth they were:-Polhill (Holme) Mill, Harrietsham
TQ 861 523A Domesday site, Holme Mill is recorded as Holemiln in 1254 and Holemille in 1332. In 1542 the manor of Polhill was in the ownership of John Stede. The mill passed to his son Thomas and then to his son Matthew. The mill was owned by Francis Colepeper Esq at the time of his death in 1590. It was worth 40s per annum then. In 1668 the mill was held by John Ruffen. It was then a fulling mill. Peter Theobalds was the tenant at the time of his death in 1690.
About this time the mill was converted to a corn mill. Stephen Weeks was the miller from 1700 to 1726, followed by his son John. He was followed by his son Thomas. Thomas Knight leased the mill for 21 years from 1779. He was followed by George Cronk and then John Brazier and Thomas Martin, who was the miller in 1824. In 1847 John Bunger was the miller, followed by William and Thomas Taylor in 1855. In 1895, the mill was in the occupation of Miller Bros, followed by Mrs Rhoda Vinson from 1907 to 1913. The mill had collapsed by the time Coles Finch visited it and was demolished in 1929, although the waterwheel and pentrough by Weeks of Maidstone survive.
Chegworth Mill, Ulcombe
TQ 849 527Chegworth mill is probably not the Domesday mill recorded at Ulcombe. The first reference to Chegworth occurs in 1200. The first definite reference to this mill was in 1317, when the mill was held by John de Cheggeworth. John de Chageworth was recorded at the mill in 1324. The mill was in the ownership of Sir Cheney Culpeper in 1657. It was then known as the Lower Mill. The previous owners were Thomas Hatche and Richard Austen, who had recently sold the mill at that date. John Pecke was the miller. Seventeenth-century millers in Ulcombe include Willia Pettit, Percival Austen, Thomas Sylliborne and John Baker. It is not known which mill each was at, there being two watermills and a windmill in Ulcombe during this period. William Taylor was the miller in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1702, John Feverstone was the miller.
The mill was known as Pendmill in 1745 when the miller was recorded as John Feverstour the Elder. John Feverstone the older was the miller in 1766, when the lease was renewed; Richard Tilbe was the owner at this time. Thomas Willett leased the mill in 1792 and in 1800 Chegworth Mill, otherwise Pendmill was mortgaged by Willett. The mill was recorded as Checqworth Mill on the 1801 Ordnance Survey map. John Taylor was the miller in 1847, followed by G Craddock in 1852, J Gilbert, William and Thomas Taylor in 1854, Mrs M Cradduck, J Gilbert and Thomas Taylor 1855 - 1861, Charles Wicks in 1874, Alfred Wick 1895 - 1907, and Frederick James Potter 1930 - 1934. The last miller was Ted Uren, who started at the mill in 1961, and took over from Harold Potter. The mill was house converted c.1990.
The present mill was a corn mill and worked until the late 1960s. It has an overshot waterwheel of diameter and wide, made by Weeks of Maidstone. The axle is cast iron and square. The pit wheel is cast iron with 96 lignum vitae cogs. The cast-iron upright shaft carries a cast-iron wallower with 38 teeth and a cast-iron great spur wheel with 104 cogs. It powered three pairs of millstones. One pair are French Burr stones of diameter, one pair are Peak stones of diameter and the third pair have a Peak runner stone on a French Burr bedstone, both diameter. The crown wheel drove two layshafts, which powered various machines, including a "Ureka" winnower and an oat crusher by Ganz & Co., of Budapest, Hungary. A saw bench outside the mill was also driven by belts and pulleys. The sack hoist is driven from the top of the upright shaft.
The Mille, Broomfield
TQ 834 536Possibly a Domesday site, the mill was marked on a map dated 1649. A 1748 map shows the watercourses but no mill. The head of water available was some, indicating a breastshot or overshot waterwheel.
Le Mille, Broomfield
TQ 834 532The first mention of this mill was in 1368 when a fulling mill had been erected by Thomas Burgeys of Smarden. In 1486 the mill was held by Thomas Bourghchier the Younger. The mill was marked on a map of Leeds Castle dated 1649. In 1748, the waterways and mill pond were marked on a map, but no building. The mill seems to have ceased work sometime after the 1660s, when John Rogers was recorded as a fuller in Leeds. The mill may have had a breastshot or overshot waterwheel.
Leeds Castle Mill, Broomfield
TQ 835 532A mill was recorded at Broomfield in the Domesday book. This predated the building of a mill by either Robert de Crevecoeur or his son Hamo de Crevecoeur in 1100. Originally built as a corn mill, there is some evidence that it had been converted to a fulling mill by 1368. This being the work of Thomas Burgeys of Smarden. The surviving mill building dates from the early thirteenth century and fell out of use in the middle seventeenth century. The building was some wide, long and high. The waterwheel was driven from the lake to the castle.
The mill was located between the Outer Barbican and Inner Barbican and the breastshot waterwheel would have been some or diameter and wide. The remains of a pair of Peak millstones were recorded as lying in the wheel pit in 1967. The stones seemed to be of early nineteenth-century manufacture and it is not known whether they came from this mill of one of the other mills owned by the Leeds Castle estate.
Keepers Cottage mill, Broomfield
TQ 831 536A possible mill site, a building was marked on a map of Leeds Castle dated 1748 on the island which lies above Keeper's Cottage. The site is probably not a Domesday site, and if a mill existed here it disappeared in the late Middle Ages.
Old (Boxley, Hollingbourne, Hurst, Mote Hole) Mill, Leeds
TQ 820 541This mill stood on the parish boundary of Hollingbourne and Leeds. In 1654 the mill was recorded as a fulling mill in the occupation of John and William Dann. A William Dann, fuller, of Leeds is recorded as having been a bondsman at a wedding in 1640. The fulling mill had gone by 1723. In 1733, Sir Roger Meredith, Baronet, of Leeds Abbey leased land in Hollingbourne to James Whatman with permission to erect a new dwelling house and papermill. Whatman sub-leased part of the land to Richard Harris from 1733 to 1736, then William Quelch and John Terry from 1739 to 1741 and John Saunders from 1741 to 1748. He was followed by Henry French from 1749 to 1770. James Whatman Jr inherited the freehold in 1759 and occupied the mill until 1775. He was followed by Clement Taylor as occupier from 1776 to 1791, and by 1794 a Mr Calcraft had acquired the freehold. In 1795, Messrs Balston, Finch, Hollingworth & Co were owner occupiers. In 1824, Messrs Hollingworth, Finch and Thomas were the occupiers. In 1843, John Hollingworth, papermaker, was the occupier.
The mill was still a paper mill in 1847 but had been converted to a corn mill by 1852, when the miller was one of R Dawson, E Nye of H Nye. In 1854, Richard Ashbe and John Bunyar were millers at Mote Hole Mill. William Skinner was the miller in 1855. William Taylor was the miller at Old Mill in 1874. George Stephen Kingsnorth was miller at Mote Hole Mill in 1895, followed by the Medway Milling Co in 1907. In 1908, the mill was being used to grind cocoa beans. Edward Weller was the miller in 1913. The mill had probably ceased work by 1922 and was idle by 1928. The mill gearing had been jammed by a baulk of timber, jamming the machinery by that date. Old Mill was five storeys high. It had an overshot waterwheel of at least diameter and width. It drove six pairs of millstones by lineshaft. The machinery was removed during World War II and the mill demolished.
Brandescombe (Buscombe, Fulling) Mill, Leeds
TQ 812 540This mill was presented to the Priory of Leeds by Robert de Crevecoeur the Younger. The mill was also mentioned in the will of Daniel de Crevequer, who died in 1177. At that time it was a corn mill. Leeds priory was dissolved in 1539 and the mill was still in the ownership of the priory then. In 1628, Thomas Fludd and Ralphe Buffkin sold the mill to William Cage of Lincoln's Inn, Middlesex. By this time it was a fulling mill. Cage was still the owner in 1689, when the mill was in the occupation of William Tompkin and had previously been in the occupation of Bob Potter. Potter remained in occupation until at least 1707. Hasted noted the mill was still working in 1798 and Greenwood's map of 1822 marks the mill as Shilling Mill. The mill probably had a breastshot waterwheel as the head was not sufficient for an overshot wheel. Fulling Mill had ceased to be used as a mill by 1843, there being no entry in Bagshaw's Directory of that year. The surviving building is of fifteenth century date.