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Barcombe Mill, Barcombe TQ 432148
The mill was sold in 1879 to William Catt & Sons who were also operating Bishopstone Tide Mill located between Newhaven and Seaford. By 1903 Barcombe Mill was in the occupation of William Wilmshurst who continued until its closure in 1918. The mill caught fire in March 1939 and quickly burned to the ground. The only evidence of the mill today is a grass mound and two peak millstones that lie discarded by the river.
Barcombe Oil Mill, Barcombe TQ 438158
The mill closed down and was demolished in 1917. A sluice gate and a pile of discarded edge runner stones is all that remains on the site.
Bartley Mill TQ632357
 The mill was once part of a thriving Hop Farm. It was restored to working order in the mid-1980s. The owners have agreed to make the mill workings (on the ground floor only) available for inspection strictly by appointment. This arrangement will continue for as long as there is someone on site during the week. Contact details [e-mail]
Benhall Watermill, Frant TQ607376
This was a watermill that was erected following the demise of the iron industry. There was a forge here in 1574, still working in 1653 although in 1667 it was 'laid aside and not used'. Benhall Mill was erected near or possibly on, the site of the ironworks, but it is not marked on Budgeon's map of 1724. During the compilation of the Defence Schedules in 1803, drawn up for the purpose of arriving at the estimated quantity of flour that could be expected from the local mills in time of invasion, Richard Jones, the miller, was willing to supply two sacks of 280lb. of flour every 24 hours and to supply his own wheat. His son Stephen, carried on until at least 1845, when Christopher and Henry Smith took over and continued as a partnership until 1870, after which Henry continued alone until 1887. There are no trade directory entries for the mill after this date, indicating the cessation of commercial milling. It appears that the mill may have continued grinding animal feed for Benhall Farm for some years after. The mill was finally demolished in the summer of 1964 after many years of lying in a ruinous state. It had three floors, two of brick and one of wood with predominately wooden machinery, which drove 3 pairs of stones (two peak and one burr). In its latter days the top floor was replaced by a corrugated iron roof, with entry into the mill from the road onto the stone floor. Again, as with many other sites, no trace of the mill can be found- but its position is marked by a depression at the foot of the embankment, while on the other side of the road are the dried-up remains of a millpond. The above information has been extracted from:- Watermills of Sussex Volume 1 - East Sussex by Derek Stidder & Colin Smith. In the Simmons Collection the following information is given about Benhall Watermill. The watermill is located 1 ½ miles north east of the Church. On the 6 inch map of 1910 the mill is marked ½ mile east of the railway near Benhall Mill Road and Windmill Farm. In 1938 the owner of Benhall Farm was Percy Longhurst. A report in the Sussex Advertiser dated April 16th 1827 - Stolen from R & S Jones, Benhall Mill, Frant . . . . a horse. In the Sussex Advertiser dated September 23rd 1884 a Miller and Grinder is advertised. One who understands baking would be preferred. Apply to Henry Smith, Benhall Mill. Benhall Windmill
She was located 1 mile 3 ½ furlongs north east of the Church on the north side and overlooking Benhall Mill Road and west of Benhall Windmill Farm. The mill was a post mill with roundhouse and fitted with two cloth-covered and two spring sweeps. She was run in conjunction with the watermill. Earliest reference to the windmill is 1818, then in occupation of Henry Latter. In 1845 Stephen Jones was using her, whilst another reference occurs in 1849 when Mr. Edward Field appears to have occupied her. Mr. F. J. Standen, at one time connected with Cousley Wood Mill, Wadhurst remembers Benhall Windmill as being in more or less a dilapidated condition in the 1880s, although in occasional use, but she had ceased to exist by 1900 and nothing remains today.
Bolebrook [Bolebroke] Watermill, Hartfield TQ481373
The present mill dates from 1740. Until 1977 the mill possessed an
11 ft. diameter wooden clasp arm oak waterwheel 5 ft. 6 in. wide, but during a violent storm the wheel was damaged and had to be dismantled. However much of the internal machinery remains. Various millers operated the mill over the years, with Alfred Tester taking over in 1899. The mill then continued operating until 1931.
Boringwheel Watermill TQ455264
 The large mill pond, located some distance from the mill is now used as a trout farm. The building of the watermill is a brick substructure on which is supported a timber framed and weatherboarded superstructure with a half hipped roof covered with clay tiles. Boringwheel Watermill is privately owned and not open to the public.
Brambletye Watermill, Forest Row TQ416353
A number of mills have stood on the site since Domesday. The last mill was rebuilt in 1866, following a fire destroying most of the previous mill. The 1866 mill was constructed of brick and timber in a typically south east England style. The mill contained 3 pairs of stones and was powered by a wooden overshot waterwheel. Operated by various millers over the years, the mill was still known to be working in 1945, but it was eventually demolished in 1968.
Brightling Saw Mill, Brightling TQ684200
It is probable that the first saw mill built on this site was constructed in about 1870, which was an unusually shaped building made of wood. The cast iron overshot waterwheel, which still exists, is 16 feet in diameter and 3 feet wide, and was made by Neve Brothers in 1891, indicated by an inscription on the rim. The present saw mill was probably built in 1902, incorporating the 1891 waterwheel into its construction. The brick and timber building was constructed below a high pond embankment. The site of the saw mill is now a ruin in the woods, with various artefacts laying about in the undergrowth, although the adjacent mill pond still survives.
Bucksteep Watermill TQ652160
Bucksteep Mill at Bodle Street Green was located on Huggett's Stream, a tributary of Wallers Haven at TQ 654155. It was at the end of an unmade road half a mile north of Bodle Street Green.
Update - August 2006 : E-mail from Helen Baker
I suspect relationship with a John Keyes, Miller of Wartling between 1610 - 1628. His sons John Keyes, Miller of Wartling, and William Keys, Miller of Hawkhurst who moved to Waters Farm. Response - compiled by Robin Jones The millers in the 17th century were members of the Keys (Keas) family. As they were all called John, it is difficult to say just how many generations there were. Like the other millers in the district at this period, they seem to have been quite prosperous, at least to begin with. In 1638, John Keas of Warbleton stood surety for a marriage licence for a relative in Wartling, who was also a miller and in 1650, he took Mary Morris, an orphan from Ashburnham, into his house as an apprentice or, more probably, a domestic servant. Who then was the John Keyes who was described in 1656 as 'a poore and impotent person of the parish', when the overseers of the Parish of Warbleton were ordered to pay him 18 pence weekly until further notice? Probably he was an elderly member of the family who others were unwilling to support. The name of John Keys is next encountered in the Land Tax in 1704, when he was assessed on property valued at £25 but this was not the watermill. Keys had married the widow of Thomas Elliott and was now living at Little Bucksteep, as emerged when this property was sold to Thomas Bennett in 1712. In his will, made in 1725, Keys still called himself a miller but his probate inventory, taken shortly afterwards, makes no mention of a mill. With respect to the mill site, excavations in 1995 exposed the ground floor and two discarded peak millstones, a concrete platform with bolts, suggesting an engine of some sort, and the single pipe feed to the former overshot waterwheel.
Bugsell Watermill, Hurst Green TQ723255
This tall watermill had two wooden waterwheels, one overshot and one breastshot and each worked 2 pairs of stones, although the gearing arrangement was such that either set of stones could be worked by each waterwheel. Bugsell Mill was built of brick and timber on stone foundations and comprised of three floors. Although the mill was demolished in 1953, some wooden shafting and two French burr millstones can still be seen at the site.
Buxted Watermill, Buxted TQ495233
By 1945, the mill had been converted into residential accommodation. The framework of the external overshot waterwheel, which is 9 feet 6 inches diameter by 10 feet wide remains, but no buckets survive. When working this cast iron waterwheel with its three sets of arms drove 2 pairs of stones. The rack and pinion penstock with elm boards also still exists. E-MAIL FROM DEREK SNATT : NOVEMBER 2012
I have in my possession a copy of a deed, the original of which is in the East Sussex Record Office, whereby one John London (or, possibly, John of London) granted to my ancestor John Snatt (spelled "Johann" but the deed is in Latin so it would be), "the whole of my mill called Bulletismel with all the lands pertaining to the said mill and its other appurtenances situated in the parish of Buxted". The deed is dated the 20th October in the 36th year of the reign of Henry VI (1457). There are records in the Court Rolls of the manor of Sheffield (Sheffield Park, Fletching) of licences granted to John, Henry and Nicholas Snatt for the taking of grain from various manor lands in the 1590s through to the 1660s, so it would appear that the mill probably remained in the family until then, although in the 1650s and 60s Henry and Nicholas are described as being "of Lodgeland" There are other, not directly related, documentary references to probably two or three generations of Johns, Henrys and Thomases around Fletching and Uckfield between 1474 and the 1590s and masses of documents relating to the family in the 17th and 18th centuries, all over mid Sussex. Buxted does therefore appear to have had a mill at least two hundred years before the reference in 1655, as indeed one would expect, although, of course, it may not have been on the site of the present mill. I have been trying to find out more about this mill, its location and history. Hence my visiting your website. I wonder if anyone might be able to shed any further light on this matter ? I should be extremely grateful for any information you may be able to give me.
Charne (Rushlake) Watermill TQ621180
One of Richard's son's, John, operated the mill in the 1850s while his other son Richard operated the windmill at Summerhill. About 1861 his grandson John E Baitup took over the watermill, and with his three sons, John, Robert and George, worked the mill until 1900, when Robert took charge of the business as miller until 1918, when the mill ceased operating. The mill was dismantled in the 1930s. It had a 15ft. diameter overshot wooden waterwheel and was fitted with a pair of French Burr stones and a pair of Derbyshire Peak stones. In the 1880s a small Clayton & Shuttleworth engine was installed to provide auxiliary power.
Cox's Watermill TQ652201
Plumpton Place Watermill, Plumpton TQ361136
Plumpton Upper Watermill, Plumpton TQ362147
The mill is set into the pond embankment and is built of red brick to two floors with weatherboarded gable ends under a tiled mansard roof.
Plumpton Watermill, Plumpton TQ362150
Polegate Watermill TQ 579040
 The mill went into decline in the 1960s due to housing development in the area, which brought the risk of flooding. The mill was put up for sale in 1972, but with no buyers coming forward, it was demolished in 1974. The waterwheel however was saved and went to Wateringbury in Kent. The backs of garages at the end of Windmill Place, Polegate, the fronts of which can be seen at the end of The Millrace behind and to the right of the houses, now occupy the site.
Rowner Watermill, Billingshurst TQ071260
This was an exceptional site one mile northwest of Billingshurst, with two mills built at different times. As the river and the Wey and Arun Canal passed the site, the position of the two mills was critical as the area was prone to flooding and, to combat this, the mills were raised up on a small island using both low breastshot and undershot waterwheels. The older of the two mills, according to an inspection of the mill in 1944, was built of timber and powered by a 12 ft. diameter low breastshot waterwheel that drove 3 pairs of stones, a wooden upright shaft, 7 ft. 6 in. diameter spur wheel and wooden stone nuts. Upstairs there were three octagonal wooden tuns and the inscription 'Flood Nov 21, 22, 23 J. Sawyer 1815'. By contrast the newer mill, brick built with an iron undershot waterwheel, was about 18 ft. in diameter by 6 ft. wide, but by 1946 the machinery had been removed with the doors and windows boarded up. There is a report that water pumping took place in this mill but little is known about this venture. There is nothing to suggest that they were anything other than flour mills, as the 1896 Ordnance Survey 6in map refers to the mills as 'Corn', indicating that by then it was mainly just producing provender feed. During World War II the mill apparently restarted, for a short period, to produce cattle food. The first reference is found on Budgen's 1724 map, while the first record appeared in February 1809 when William Carter insured his mill. According to Pigot's 1826 directory, James Carter was the occupier and it was still in the same family in 1842, according to the Tithe Apportionment, when reference is made to the second mill being built in the control of Joseph Carter. Kelly's 1855 directory names William Botting as the occupier, and he remained until 1870. It appears that Hammond and Son (later Hammond Bros.) were the last occupiers until the mill closed down commercially towards the end of the 19th century. An article in the West Sussex Gazette South of England Advertiser in October 1962 stated that the derelict mill was showing signs of water ingress. Both mills came into the possession of the West Sussex River Board in 1958 and despite last minute representations that they should be preserved, they were demolished in 1966. The area around the mill site floods on a regular basis and naturally the river board wanted to remove all possible obstructions to river flow. There is now nothing to be seen at the site, apart from the wheelpit of the older mill. Rowner Farm is south of the mill site, on higher ground, and in its garden is to be found an unusually constructed gazebo. A close inspection reveals a 7 ft. diameter spur wheel and a 5 ft. diameter crown wheel from the older mill. A rather inglorious reminder to what was one of West Sussex's most attractive and picturesque watermills. Extracted from : 'Watermills of Sussex' by Derek Stidder and Colin Smith Further information supplied by John Hurd on ROWNER MILL Your website - also "West Sussex Watermills" - suggest that references to Rowner Mill (now demolished in the 1960s) only date from the 1720s - but the documentary record is much longer. It was probably one of the Pulborough mills mentioned in Doomsday. Rowner was in the manor and parish of Pulborough until c1935 when boundaries were altered and Rowner became part of Billingshurst Civil Parish. 1086: Robert holds Pulborough from the Earl (Roger). Wulfric held it before 1066. Then & now it answered for 16 hides. Land for 18 ploughs. In lordship 4 ploughs; 35 villagers and 15 cottagers with 13 ploughs. 9 slaves; 2 mills at 11s; meadow 50 acres; woodland at 25 pigs; 2 fishereies at 3s. 2 churches. Theobald and Ivo hold 2 hides and half virgate of this manor's land. In lordhip 1 plough; 3 villagers and 4 cottagers with 1 plough. Value of the whole manor before 1066 £16; later £16; now Robert's lordship £22; the mens' 35s. [Doomsday Book]
WEY AND ARUN JUNCTION CANAL was opened on 29 September 1816, was 18.5 miles in length with 23 locks, 16 locks - Rowner Lock, Malham Lock, Drungewick Lock, Stubbs (otherwise Baldwin's Knob) Lock, Brewhurst Lock, Devil's Hole Lock, Southland Lock, Gennets Lock and Locks Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 - with a total rise of 123 feet from Newbridge to the summit level, and 7 locks - Lock No. 17, Fanesbridge Lock, Park Lock, Linersh Wood Lock, Bramley Lock, Tanyard Lock and Stonebridge Lock - with a total rise of 47 feet from Stonebridge to the summit level
Tickerage Watermill, Blackboys TQ515210
By 1946 the mill was derelict and although it contained its machinery the future was uncertain. This Grade II listed building is set beside a causeway and utilised water from a pond on the other side to power a 14 ft. diameter iron overshot waterwheel manufactured by Medhurst & Son of Lewes. The mill is built to three storeys of brick and timber and still survives. It is thought that no internal machinery exists, but the owner of the nearby mill house prohibits access. The mill can be seen from a right of way that passes the front door.
Twissells Watermill, Heathfield
The half timbered watermill operated until October 1909, when sluice gates at Heathfield Park's four lakes were opened, causing the mill pond to overflow resulting in the mill and mill cottage being flooded. The machinery however remained intact.
Upton's Watermill, Framfield TQ504211
Standing on the River Uck, a reference appeared in May 1772, when it was advertised for sale. When it was sold in June 1791 Mr. William Newnham became the occupier, but died in tragic circumstances while working at the mill in December 1796. It continued to be operated by members of the Newnham family until 1855, the last member of the family being Henry Newnham. The last owner and occupier of the mill was George Heaver, who took over following the death of Henry Newnham in 1874. George Heaver continued as owner-occupier at the mill until he died here at the age of 96, in 1930. According to an inspection of the mill in April 1947, the mill was complete, but disused, and its fate was sealed in 1966 when it was completely gutted and turned into a residence. It is thought that the 10 ft. 6 in. diameter iron overshot waterwheel was retained, but this had gone by 1970. Upton's mill was built on four floors, one brick and the others weatherboarding. When approaching the site from the south, the early 17th century Grade II mill house has been renamed "Upton's Mill", while the old mill is now called "Heaver's Mill".
Wannock Watermill TQ575035
Although the millpond was filled in and bungalows built on the site, the narrow stream at the back of Mill House, and flows between the bungalows, provided the water to turn the wheel. A carved oak figure representing the miller wife holding a measure and strike was for many years hung above the mill door. Thought to be Jacobean, which makes it over 300 years old, this wooden figure still exists, and is owned by a member of the Turner family who were the last bakers at the mill.
A letter written in May 1850 by a resident of Warbleton to his family in Canada said "Old Mrs. Baitup at the Mill is dead and John is going to be married and live there" John Baitup married Judith Dale at Mountfield on 20th May 1850, giving his occupation as miller. Moving forward 20 years, the 1871 census records show that Richard Baitup (Jnr.) was at the Summerhill windmill with his two younger sons William & Robert, while the Rushlake watermill was being worked by his other son John E. Baitup. John Baitup (Snr.), the miller of 1850, now lived as a farmer at Yew Tree Farmhouse at Mayfield, with 3 daughters and one son, John Baitup (Jnr.).
John E. Baitup continued to work the Rushlake watermill for the rest of his life, and indeed in 1901 his widow Jane was still there with her three daughters and son George. Her son Robert, a "Miller's manager", lived nearby. Of John Baitup (Snr.), nothing further is known, but in 1881 his daughter Fanny, aged 20, was in charge of Yew Tree Farm; eventually his youngest daughter, Mary, married George Lazenby, a warehouseman, in Paddington in 1885, and the link with Sussex was lost for ever. But was it ? The question remains, why did Jack Lazenby, a warehouseman's son from London, buy a bungalow in Heathfield in 1949 to live out his retirement ? Submitted in 2004 by John Buchanan,
 
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