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Park
Watermill, which stands by the River Dudwell, is located
within the grounds of Batemans at
Burwash, (TQ
670237) the home of
Rudyard Kipling from 1902 to 1936. Two watermills
were built at Burwash between 1246 and 1248, and in
1619, the Pelham family purchased Park House and Park
House Watermill.
In
1903 Rudyard Kipling decided to convert the Mill House
to produce electricity for Batemans. to this end
the water wheel was taken out and a survey completed to
enable a Chelmsford based company to specify a suitable
hydro electric installation sufficient to generate and
supply electricity to the main rooms in the house.
Batemans
- Mill House
The
present mill dates from about 1750 when it was operated
by John Skinner. It was last worked by the brothers
Richardson in 1902. Rudyard Kipling who purchased
Batemans and Park Mill in the same year, removed the
waterwheel and installed a turbine in 1903. The turbine
drove a generator and provided Batemans with electricity
for 25 years. The mill features in a number of
Kipling’s Sussex stories including ‘Puck of
Pook’s Hill’ and ‘Below the Mill Dam’.
Most
of the machinery still exists in the mill. The pit wheel,
wallower, great spur wheel and stone nuts,
together with the tentering arrangement can be seen on
entering the mill at ground floor level. Also on the
ground floor are facilities to control the operation of
the mill. Near the rear door, the miller can adjust
the gap between the stones and control the speed of the
waterwheel by regulating the flow of water.
The
overshot waterwheel is set in motion by raising a gate
in the pentrough, which allows water from the mill
pond to flow through the pentrough into the individual
buckets in the wheel, providing power to operate the
mill. On
the stone floor three pairs of stone can be seen. The
Wire Machine for dressing meal and a Smutter for
cleaning grain are no longer in the mill. There is a
Winnower, which is no longer used and a Hand Quern,
which visitors can use to try their hand at milling.
The
mill can normally be seen grinding on Saturday
afternoons. Batemans together with Park Watermill is
owned by the National Trust, and there is a combined
admission charge currently £5.50 per person.
The
brick built outbuilding in the picture below was
converted to house a simple small generator. A
concrete foundation was poured in one corner of the
building on which a generator could be mounted, so as to
be belt driven from a water turbine.
Batemans
- Generator Outbuilding
Between
1968-75, the building, which had fallen into a sad state
of disrepair, was restored along with the turbine. This
building is included on a Monument Protection Programme
commissioned in 1995 by English Heritage, along with The
Old Steam House, generating works at Herstmonceux,
Sussex. There are remarkable parallels between the
Baron de Roemer and Rudyard Kipling. Both had a
fascination for automobiles and electricity. Where
Kipling was content to harness the forces of nature to
provide light to his home, the Baron went further and
generated electricity supplies to a whole village.
Remarkably, these two buildings are the only surviving
examples of early electricity generation in
Sussex. The Herstmonceux
building is thought to be the only surviving example of
electricity distribution generation in Europe.
SUSSEX
MILLS | WATER
MILLS | MILLS
OPEN | EVENTS
| LINKS
| CONTACT
GROUP | SITE
MAP
South-East
Region | East
Sussex | Notable
House Sites | MultiMap
| The
National Trust
Batemans
- Burwash, East Sussex Tel: (01435) 882302 Fax:
(01435) 882811
Opening
times:
23rd March - 29th September. Closed Thursdays and
Fridays except Good Friday. 11.00 am - 5.30 pm last
entry 4.30 pm.
LINKS:
Battle
Abbey
Battle
Museum of Local History
Batemans
Bexhill
Museum
Bexhill
Museum of Costume & Social History
Bodiam
Castle
Buckleys
Yesterdays World
Carr
Taylor Vineyards
Clambers
De
La Warr Pavilion
Farmworld
Great
Dixter
Hastings
Castle
Hastings
Fishermen's Museum
Hastings
Museum & Art Gallery
Herstmonceux
Castle
Kent
& East Sussex Railway
Merriments
Gardens
Old
Town Hall Museum
Pashley
Manor Gardens
Pevensey
Castle
Rye
Art Gallery
Rye
Audio Walks
Rye
Castle Museum
Rye
Story
Underwater
World - Hastings
Sedlescombe
Vineyards
Shipwreck
Heritage Centre
Smugglers
Adventure
White
Rock Theatre
Winchelsea
Court Hall Museum
Herstmonceux
Electricity Generating Works Circa. 1900 -
1936 Links:
Introduction
| Instructions
| ISBN |
Batteries |
Boiler Room
| Floor Plan
|
Industrial Revolution
| Lime
Park | Machinery
| Map
| Power House
Public
Supply | Roof Construction |
Rural Supply |
Sussex Express 1913 |
Conclusion
Archaeology
South East | East
Sussex CC | English
Heritage | SIAS
|
