House Magazine Spring 2000

Every Museum volunteer has their favourite task. For one of our longest-standing stewards, John Herniman, it's Lurgashall Watermill- one of the most popular exhibits with visitors - where he is now one of the regular volunteer millers.

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Lurgashall Mill was built in the 17th century at Lurgashall a village about four miles north of Petworth, from local stone. It used water from several streams which eventually flow into the River Rother near Halfway Bridge. The mill had been rebuilt and modified at least once in its working life.

was the staple food of the rural population, augmented by vegetables, poultry, rabbits and other game meat, as well as fruit, nuts, and fungi gathered from the countryside. In fact, it provided the basis of a highly nutritious diet, often washed down with ale, which (accidentally) had been 'pasteurised' during the brewing process and was, therefore, usually more healthy than water.

The mill continued to be working until 1935, grinding mainly animal feed. Like so many other village mills, its trade declined because it could not compete with the powerful companies which imported American grain and used roller mills driven firstly by steam, and later by electricity. The mill became derelict and uneconomical to repair. In 1973 the Leconfield Estate presented it to the Museum. It was then carefully dismantled, stone by stone, beam by beam, and the remains of the machinery salvaged. Before it could be rebuilt on the Museum site, it was necessary to excavate and build an upper (sealed) and a lower (unsealed) mill pond with the requisite height difference of about 12ft. This took four years, and the restoration of the machinery and the interior took a further three years. So it was a long and ambitious project, but certainly one which has paid off in terms of its popularity over the past 20 years.

Lurgashall Mill and its granary at the Museum with the upper (right) and lower ponds.

The Museum's mill is one of the few working watermills in Britain which also sells its product - stoneground wholemeal flour - now much in demand by discerning bakers in business and at home. Lurgashall Mill was reconstructed by the late John Friar and Geoff Kent. Robert Demaus was the first miller and remains the Museum's consultant millwright. The mill is now run on a daily basis by a team of volunteers trained specially for the task. Robert Demaus will continue miller training and generally supervise technical operations. Keith Bickmore looks after the business aspects and Nick Conway, the maintenance.

The machinery

The design concept of watermills like Lurgashall Mill has not changed for many centuries. In Norman and Medieval times the mechanism was made entirely of wood, but the basic engineering principles of the overshot water wheel and the gearing to the running grindstone drive had long been established. With the onset of iron smelting and forging skills, particularly in the Weald, parts of the machinery were replaced by iron components. In Victorian times village mills reached their most sophisticated state with wood and iron or steel working hand in hand. This is what we see in Lurgashall Mill today. The word overshot means that it is the weight of the water dropping on the top of the water wheel which causes it to rotate, not the water's velocity as in breastshot or undershot wheels, where the water hitting the paddles at speed makes the wheel rotate, as in a turbine.

The present cast-iron waterwheel was made at a foundry in Cocking to replace an earlier wooden wheel. It is 12ft in diameter and when the mill is grinding it normally turns at between 4 and 6 r.p.m., each turn using about 320 gallons of water. The gearing from the waterwheel to the shaft driving the running grindstone is 13.5 to 1, so that the running stone is turning at a speed of between 50 to 80 r.p.m. Unlike the original site at Lurgashall, there is inadequate natural surface water on the site to maintain the level in the upper pond when the mill is working. To overcome this, a powerful electric water pump re-circulates the water back to the upper pond, a lift in excess of 12ft. In Summer this must be done promptly, or the water will be lost into the ground.

In Winter, when the ground water level rises, the lower pond remains full, so the water can be retrieved at any time to restore the level of the upper pond. Occasionally in Summer it is necessary to resort to pumping from a bore-hole nearby to top up the upper pond, fortunately this is a rare occurrence ,because it is expensive. It must not be forgotten that, on its original site, the power for the mill was provided free, but the water, once used, was allowed to flow away into the natural river system, no doubt to be used again and again elsewhere. (What better example of the sustainable use of natural resources!)

The purpose of the machinery in the mill is to convert the speed and direction of the drive from the water wheel to that of the spindle driving the running stone, namely, the upper grindstone. In effect it turns the drive from horizontal to vertical, and multiplies it by 13 and a half, so that, for every turn of the water wheel, the running stone rotates 13 and a half times. The miller's main task is to see that whilst the water wheel is turning there is grain between the stones being ground to a meal. Whilst in motion the stones must never be allowed to meet. If they do, not only would the stones be damaged, but also, great heat would be generated - enough to start a fire if left more than a minute or so. This is the reason for the bell on the damsel - it warns the miller that the grain hopper is almost empty, and he must either stop the machinery, or replenish the grain in the hopper immediately. If he ignores the damsel's call, dire consequences could result.

The Mill on its original site at Lurgashall.