I have to confess to being completely and utterly confused over which mill is/was which where Bassingham is concerned!
I have tried to use The Bassingham Story by Bill & Connie Wilson and Helen Ash (2003), as that is the only historical source that I can find, but they seem to mix up the mills and contemporary maps don’t back up much of what is written therein, so I am going to try to piece together what I believe to be correct.
There seem to have been several village mills, albeit not necessarily at one and the same time. There were two early watermills; one windmill in the northeast corner of the village; a second down in the southwest; and another to the east of Carlton Road. Yet another local windmill – which I shall only touch upon – was worked in Carlton le Moorland, in the field at the southern end of Rinks Lane.
Another point which needs to be borne in mind is that names associated with individual mills don’t always mean that they lived there; at least one of the mills under discussion was a post-mill which would have afforded no living space anyway, whilst mill-workers have definitely given addresses elsewhere in the village in the various Censuses.
If you know for certain that I have got this wrong then please get in touch using the contact form and enlighten me. 🙂
The First Mills
1086’s Domesday Book indicates that there were two mills (watermills, according to Wilson & Ash) in Bassingham. One of these, the southernmost, survived to be mapped in 1832 (not a map that I have ever seen) and it was probably this mill that occurs in 1256 along with the earliest windmill. Wilson & Ash also point out that two millers are mentioned as paying the 1332 Lay Subsidy at Bassingham. Both of these early mills had vanished by the time of the 1886 Ordnance Survey map.
A windmill known as “Sir John Wrays” is sketched on Carlton Road in the 1654 Enclosure map (below).
This would seem to have been a simple wooden cabin with four sails, mounted on a stout central post. It is first mentioned in the 1571 will of John Briggs. The 1601 Glebe terrier adds some details in that “Blands Yard” was nearby. This would be Robert Bland whose house and yard had to abut the road to the mill. He married Sibille Gibson (as his third wife) in November 1591, and his will showed that he also owned houses in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Phiper’s tithe book makes reference in 1624 to a miller, Anthony Rutter, and his payment of eighteen pence for the “Tith of ye windemill” and this again is likely to have been Sir John Wray’s mill.
In his will of February 1659/60, another miller, Richard Samson, left to his son and namesake “my horse mill for him to enter to a yeare before the lease of my house be ended”. Given that his Inventory lists amongst other items, “a horse mill, new Coggs and spindles” as well as “one milstone, sailcloths, a gavelock, picks, and other utensils about the mill”, in addition to a boat, he was probably responsible for the water mill.
There are no existing photographs or drawings of any of these mills as far as I am aware.
“The South Windmill” (sic)
Wilson & Ash suggest that one windmill, which they refer to as “the south mill”, was very likely situated at or near the site of Sir John Wray’s Mill which would place it around the junction of Carlton Road and Navenby Road (see previous map). They propose that this structure was a post-mill known locally as “Barber’s Mill” and was built in the 1830s by Samuel Worsdale, who borrowed £250 from William Lambert of Aubourn Hall to finance it. John Worsdall of Carlton le Moorland sold it in 1833 and by 1841 it was worked by William Tebb, aged 35 the night of the Census, and his wife Charlotte, aged 30. Tebb, who lived on the High Street, was still there in 1851, but by 1855 had given way to John Worsdall, and he in turn to Samuel Sawyer by 1868. From 1872 to 1882 it was worked by John Barber, who gave name to it, but he subsequently left to take the post-mill at Carlton le Moorland.
This postcard (below) accompanies this information on page 80 of The Bassingham Story, where Madeline Vickers identifies it as “Barbers Mill” on a postcard by Kennewell.
This windmill was also the subject of an article in the press in 1987 (below). Sadly it was not identified by either name or location but it is obviously the same photograph as that of the Kennewell postcard. Incidentally, Ralph Bates who is credited with taking the photograph was not the famous actor, but a son of Mr. Arthur Bates who ran the first Co-Op on the High Street.
The mill was also sketched by Dr. Johnson in 1907, a drawing clearly based upon the postcard rather than viewing the actual structure itself.
Wilson & Ash go on to tell us that Andrews (who?!) was working the mill on the day of the 1908 tornado which ripped through the village, causing damage elsewhere, and that the mill itself survived in derelict condition until 1935. A different source (which uses the same postcard image) says that this mill was worked until 1900 and then pulled down in 1914. Who to believe, eh? 🤷♂️
“The North Windmill” (sic)
The northernmost windmill at Bassingham was first mentioned in 1797 when John Iredale left it to his wife Mary. By the night of the 1841 Census it was worked by Edward Clay and his family. From 1849 to 1868 trade directories record it as being worked by Thomas Mitton, and then White’s Directory of 1872 has it as Mrs. Mitton (presumably his widow.) Thomas Heaton was there in Directories of the 1875 to 1889 period, then by the time of Kelly’s Directory of 1892 it was Thomas Andrews. This windmill burned down in 1893 and, using funds from the insurance pay-out and maximising the close proximity of the River Witham, it was replaced by a brick-built steam-powered mill by Richard and Frederick Andrew. This new mill had itself fallen out of use by 1933.
The mill was clearly recorded on this 1886 Ordnance Survey map in the field at the northern end of Rinks Lane.
It was still there in 1899…
But by the time of the 1905 OS map (below) it has vanished from sight, never to return in any way, shape or form.
We know what it looked like because this windmill appears in a 1942 sketch by Dr. Osborne Johnson (in the possession of Margorie Clark) adding a note that it had burned down in 1893. Wilson & Ash point out that a small mound is still visible and that the sapling on the right of the sketch is now a fully grown tree.
Wilson & Ash go on to suggest that it also seems to be the mill of a Peter de Wint painting (below) currently in the Usher Art Gallery collection at Danes Terrace, Lincoln because both structures show the same style wooden tower, and same brick roundhouse with door. In addition, in the left background of the painting, Wilson & Ash say that there is “a church tower that would agree well with the orientation of the tower at Bassingham church in the 1840s”.
Hmmm… I strongly disagree. Whilst it is true to say that the two mills looks similar, I would say that given the aspect that it presents, unless the church was rebuilt between 1840 and now, the mill of the painting looks to be way too far east. And, in truth, I don’t think that the church looks that much like Bassingham St Michael’s anyway. In conclusion, I honestly don’t believe that this is a Bassingham mill at all; it simply adds to the confusion!
So why do I have issues with all of the above?
Throughout their discussion regarding the village windmills in The Bassingham Story (2003) Wilson & Ash refer to them as the “Northern” and the “South” windmills. For the sake of expediency I have repeated that same terminology above when describing them, but I emphatically disagree with those titles. As far as I am concerned, Wilson & Ash’s “Northern” windmill is the more southern of the two and is was situated in the field abutting what is now Margorie Clark‘s “Mill Farm” (“Windmill Cottage” in 1728) while their “south” windmill was located nowhere near Carlton Road, but much further to the north on the road out towards Aubourn and Lincoln.
Why?
Well, let’s start with “Barbers Mill”; if it was in the place suggested – the site of Sir John Wray’s Mill on the Carlton Road – then it would surely have to be marked on all of the contemporary OS maps between 1886 and 1906, wouldn’t it? But it isn’t; it’s not on even one of them. You can check for this HERE.
Secondly, close inspection of the aforementioned maps clearly shows a windmill grinding flour at the north-eastern edge of the village in fields pertaining to what is known as Larker’s Farm. It’s definitely marked on maps between 1886 through to 1950 (revised 1948), but The Bassingham Story makes no reference to this mill at all. Why? How come there is a mill clearly evident on the periphery of the village which the authors have chosen to ignore, and yet there is another supposedly sited in a position where no maps ever record it?
The 1886 OS map of the village (below) shows a flour-grinding windmill standing at the northeast corner of the village, out on the Aubourn road just off what is now the “Badger’s Oak” development (where there were never any badgers, nor were there ever any oaks!) I am certain that this was the location of Wilson & Ash’s “south” mill.
It’s here again in 1896 (along with the Mill by the river)…
And it was still marked as late as 1950…
All of which leads me to conclude that Wilson & Ash’s “South Mill”, the post-mill named “Barber’s Mill”, the mill which was photographed by Kennewell for his postcard and later became the subject of a news item, was actually the mill situated the furthest north and was located in a field which is now a collection of relatively newly established houses called “Mill Fields”. The photograph below from the Lincolnshire Heritage Explorer website shows that where these houses now stand there was once a large mound upon which the windmill stood but, whilst it confirms the mill’s location, it unfortunately fails to say whether or not this was indeed a post-mill.
So what is the truth in all this?
I’m afraid that I really don’t know. 😀
I have presented the information as I ‘read’ it, using maps and narrative, but ultimately it’s all mere speculation.
And finally, just for good measure…
Carlton le Moorland mill
John Brogan tells me that the original 1822 Carlton Mill stood opposite the pub, but was dismantled and moved to its more well-known spot in the field at the bottom of Rinks Lane (see maps below). Here is an original postcard of the mill.
Curiously, here is exactly the same photograph, but this time dated 1906!
Bassingham’s esteemed artist/doctor Osborne Johnson sketched the mill, although we can clearly see that he actually merely copied the postcard, right down to the horse’s rump sticking out at the right!
On the 1886 OS map of Bassingham and Carlton le Moorland (below) there is a corn windmill in the field at the end of Rinks Lane.
By the time of the 1904 issued map it was marked “Disused”, and by 1921 it was clearly in a state of disrepair.
It finally collapsed on 24th August 1935, a scene vividly captured in these two postcards.
That it was still marked as disused on the 1950 map (below) I presume to be a lazy error as it seems most unlikely to have been rebuilt from the wreckage above only to be left unused yet again.
Update: The ‘Witham Staple’ magazine of April 2024 states that the mill was demolished in 1951, so perhaps the wreckage is what is inferred in this map? This could still be wrong, though – the same article also erroneously dates the collapse at 1923.
And, as a footnote, John Brogan also has a fruit bowl turned from the wood of the collapsed mill, handed down to him by a relative. And then, in 2024, a table made from the same wreckage was donated by local resident Mrs. Joyce Close to St. Mary’s Church in Carlton.
OS Maps reproduced from the National Library of Scotland and can be viewed at https://www.OldMapsonline.org
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