Building record 6240/1/1 - Islip Millhouse and attached mill buildings

Watermill and attached house, mill now disused. Mid 18th century, altered early and late 19th century. Squared coursed limestone and brick with pantile and slate roofs. Mill and house comprise an L-shape plan. 2 storeys with attic and loft.

{1} Watermill and attached house, mill now disused. Mid C18, altered early and late C19. Squared coursed limestone and brick with pantile and slate roofs. Mill and house comprise an L-shape plan. 2 storeys with attic and loft. Main front of mill is a 4-window range of irregularly spaced casements under wood lintels. Plank door to right and similar door at first floor, both under wood lintels. Left corner is chamfered and has casement window under wood lintel. Eaves raised in brickwork early C19. Weatherboarded projecting hoist, at loft level, to right of centre. The mill race passes centrally under the building. Millhouse is attached at right angles to right. 2 bays with one-window range of early C19 sash windows to right with glazing bars, under wood lintels. Late C19 or C20 projecting wing to left bay is now rendered. 3 flat-topped dormers and brick stack at end. Mid C19 2-storey lean-to is attached to left, between gable ends of house and mill, and has C19 part-glazed door and wooden porch. Interior not inspected.

{3} Islip Mill; post med stone building; still in use in 1964 with electrically driven machines; originally had 2 wheels; sluices in good order;

Former corn mill. A long two storey stone building with several courses of brick below the eaves and at the top of the gable ends, indicating the present slate roof replaced one of thatch. The mill used to house two undershot water wheels. The mill house is at right angles to the north west end. Flour milling finsished in 1960 but grinding of animal foods, using electricity, continued until about 1970. All buildings now converted to dwellings.

{6} Two-storey with attic building, of stone for the two storeys and brick above (where the pitch of the roof was lowered in the change from thatched to slate roof). Windows inserted in the attic brickwork on both north and south sides. The mill was at the west end of the building, the north side of which retains the first floor taking-in door and the ground floor door with no major alterations to the fenestration except for the insertion of windows into the attic storey, as already mentioned. The north side of the east end of the building has had some changes to the fenestration but the south side has had significant alterations to the fenestrations as have the gable ends. Both of these have brickwork at the top, again indicating the change from a thatched roof to one of slates. There are a number of circular cast iron tie-plates on the north side. From the north side of the roof, a large wooden lucam extends out from over the mill section of the building. The mill-house and other buildings extend southwards from the mill. The interior has been gutted of all milling items. There may be remains of an earlier mill under the present mill or the adjacent area. Photos.

History
c.1750 Mill dates from mid 18th century
1769 Leased to Mr. Squire for £20 per annum
1771 Peter Collins, Islip, miller and merchant insured his dwelling house and water corn mills adjoining, stone and tiles, for £500
1785 Peter Collins insured the above property for £570, and a warehouse and kiln adjoining on the opposite side of the river, for £200
1823-78 Hill family were millers at Islip
1882 Mill leased to Robert Prew, at £340 per annum
1911 One of only five mills on the River Nene grinding bakers' flour
1939 Mill working with tow undershot wheels side by side, and an engine
1960 Flour milling ceased, and much of the milling machinery destroyed
1962 Gristing using electrical powered machinery ceased
c.1970 Drayton Estates disposed of the mill
1990s Conversion of mill to dwellings completed
John Harris' 1712 map marks it Mill; Eyre and Jeffreys' 1791 map marks it Mills; 1817 survey plan for OS marks it Islip Mill; and Bryant's 1827 map marks it Mill

{7} Four undated photos, also one photo dated 16.08.1990 and one dated April 1994;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 6/55 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G08 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41470.

<3> Starmer G.H., 1964, CBA Record Cards: Industrial Archaeology in Northamptonshire, Recorded by GH Starmer, 11-Aug-1964, Record No.308307 (Recording Form (Not SMR)). SNN1647.

<4> Starmer G.H., 1973, National Register of Industrial Monuments, (part checked) (Catalogue). SNN571.

<5> Starmer G.H., 1982, National Register of Industrial Monuments, (part checked) (Catalogue). SNN563.

<6> STARMER G., 2002?, Northamptonshire Watermills Survey 2001 - 2002 (H-Z), (checked) (Report). SNN105521.

<7> Photographs of buildings in Islip (Photographs). SNN112820.

<8> Historic England, Undated, National Record of Industrial Monuments (NRIM): Index Cards, NRI01 (Archive). SNN113469.

Record last edited

Jun 13 2023 10:30AM