Flour of Dorset Traditional Cache

A mile south of Shaftesbury, the river Sturkel rises in the chalk escarpment at the edge of the Blackmore Vale to become a tributary of the Stour. Sturkel is thought to mean ‘little Stour’, but even this stream had, in the Domesday Book, five watermills depending on it. Now, only one watermill remains – Cann Mill, but it is still a powerhouse providing traditional stoneground flour.

The millpond, complete with its ducks and swans, collects water from the Sturkel and feeds the late-19th-century waterwheel, which still provides some of the power for grinding. Grains are ground on traditional horizontal French Burr millstones which are renowned for producing the highest quality flour.

Cann Mill was re-built in 1881, a year after its predecessor and the miller’s house had been burnt to the ground. The mill was again sadly destroyed by fire and re-built in the 1950s in the style of that era, using concrete with a flat roof. In 1971, a windmill was added, the first in Dorset in recent times, built to a Portuguese design. It was more than a contribution to the landscape as it powered two grinding stones, of millstone grit, weighing fifteen hundredweight apiece. Over the years, the building was found to be impractical and has been replaced again with a modern design.

The current miller is a 5th generation and his family have been milling flour in the West Country for the past 180 years.