A cache placed close to the historic site of Stambridge Mill which can be found after a short walk (10mins) or if you prefer, continue on for a longer circular walk (45mins).
Stambridge Mill c1890
The earliest recorded tide mill was in Dover harbour, mentioned in the Domesday book (1086). The book also mentioned mills on the River Lea at Three Mills Island, now in London's docklands. By the 18th Century these had become the largest in England. There were about 76 tide mills in London, including two on London Bridge and at one time there were 750 tide mills operating along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean: approximately 300 in North America, 200 in the British Isles and 100 in France.
Woodbridge Tide Mill, an excellent example, survives at Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. This mill, dating from 1170 and reconstructed in 1792, has been preserved and is open to the public. Its water wheel can be seen turning. Carew Castle in Wales also has an intact, but unused, tide mill. The only working tide mill in the United Kingdom is Eling Tide Mill in Eling, Hampshire.
Taken prior to the First World War (note road which has long since disappeared)
In the 17th and 18th centuries the growth in the number of tide mills along the Atlantic coast was accelerated by the development of grain crops and the colonisation of America. Some sixty new mills were established in Great Britain at this time.
There has been a Tide Mill on the River Roach at Stambridge since the early 1600s and although it closed in the late 1990s, it outlived many of it's contemporaries such as Quay Mill in Hampshire built around 1740 and stopped working in 1920, but remains a picturesque historical landmark. Several mills closed down in the 1930s but ten of them were still functioning at the beginning of the Second World War.
Taken in 1955 prior to installation of silo's which now dominate the skyline.
Stambridge Mill, which was originally owned by the well-known local Rankin farming family. had a wheel 9.9 m (32.6 ft) wide with a diameter of approximately 5.5 m (18 ft). Mounted on a wooden shaft it drove three pairs of stones and was used the grind flour. In 2008 there was a fire at the mill which although it destroyed much of the interior, the external structure remains sound dispite being hidden by a great deal of cladding. Plans have now been submitted for developing the site as a marine development of flats with moorings.
Taken at time the cache was placed (Note frozen sea water in the foreground).
After finding the cache you can continue your walk along the banks of the Mill Pond and it will bring you out by the Horse & Groom Pub, where you turn right and continue past the Police Station, turn right at the fork in the road, past the war memorial and turn right down the Roachway and follow the footpath back to your car. If you spot a middle aged couple walking a Cairn Terrior called Daisy, say hi, that will be Fi & I.
John.