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Brian, a sixth
generation miller, starts the mill into action for you.
Water from the mill leat is let into the Victorian turbine, and
you hear the rumble as the shafts, belts and wheels start to
turn. Feel the barley meal coming warm out of the
grindstones.
Water also powers a brand new turbine, generating enough
electricity to power about ten homes.
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John le Gaunt, who
owned the mill in 1290, would be surprised to know the mill
still bears his name.
On the guided tours of the mill, Brian's enthusiasm is evident
both for its history and for the modern engineering wizardry
which produces power from this renewable resource.
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DOMESDAY
The mill's history dates back to the Domesday survey of
1068, which listed in Pitcombe near Bruton two watermills,
worth 20 shillings. One of these was almost certainly the site
of Gants Mill.
THE OLD DOCUMENTS
For a millennium the watermill has been modified, renovated and
extended to suit whichever industry or process realised most
profit from the harnessing of the water-power. With such a
building, details of the changes and the people involved are
often sadly lost in the passage of time. |
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THE HEIRESS
Fortunately, due to luck and the foresight of an eighteenth
century heiress, this is decidedly not the case with Gants Mill.
Details of four centuries ownership by local landowners, the
Westons, were saved by the last of the family, Betty Weston. She
was also reputedly the model for Sophia Western, the heroine of
Henry Fielding's novel "Tom Jones". This portrait on
the left shows her, holding a bird, with her elder sisters. |
On her marriage, Betty
Weston took with her hundreds of parchment documents, mostly
written in Latin and now in the Somerset Record office. They
give details of leases and rights to use of the water, as well
as responsibility for upkeep of the mill and its machinery.
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JOHN LE GAUNT OF
GANTS MILL
The earliest document tells us of a John le Gaunt, after whom
the mill is still named. In 1290 the Lord of Castle Cary granted
him the right to build a fulling mill here. Locally woven cloth
was brought to the fulling-mill to be washed and pummelled by
huge wooden hammers driven by the water-wheel. The cloth was
then stretched across 'tenterhooks' to dry in nearby Rack Close.
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FULLING MILL
For 400 years, while owned by the Weston family, the fulling-mill
at Gants Mill was a centre for the prosperous local woollen
industry. It was leased by merchant clothiers to process the
cloth before export. One merchant, Thomas Tanner, was the most
prominent citizen of Wells during the 1390s. He exported cloth
to Portugal through Bristol, the cloth being traded for wines
and winter fruits such as figs, raisins and dates. |
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WOOL FOR STOCKINGS
Later the centre of the woollen industry moved north, and
eventually to Yorkshire. However Daniel Defoe still described
Bruton as being famous for stockings when, in 1740, Lord
Berkeley of Bruton rebuilt the present mill building as a
woollen factory.
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THE SHORT BOOM
IN SILK
The boom industry of silk came to Gants Mill in 1810 when
Theophilus Percival, a Frenchman, built the present west wing
(on the left as you face the front of the mill). Two hundred local
women and girls tended the silk throwing machines driven by the
water-power to spin the raw silk thread prior to weaving. By
1840 silk throwing at Gants Mill had ended, as it had at most of
the other silk mills in the district. |
CORN FOR ANIMAL
FEED
The coming of the railway to Bruton in 1856 led to the next
prosperous development of Gants Mill by the Lockyer family.
There was a demand for milk, cheese and bacon for the growing
populations in the cities, and a corn mill was needed to grind
feeds for the animals on local farms. There was even a steam
engine to supply extra power when the water was low. The chimney
can be seen in the picture on the right. The main
machinery of four pairs of grindstones installed in 1888 is
still worked daily to produce animal feedstuffs. |
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RESTORATION
By the 1990s it was becoming clear that the mill building was
starting to deteriorate badly. In particular the roof had
started to sag and leak. After long discussions with
builders, architects, local planners and conservation advisers,
restoration work was put in hand. The repair philosophy was to
retain wherever possible the elements of a building that had
seen many changes over its history. For
many months the mill was scaffolded and covered over against the
weather, while work was done on the roof timbers, tiles and
stonework.
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THEN AND NOW
As one climbs the stairs within the mill, initials carved in the
woodwork remind one of the many people who have worked within
its walls. Grain from the upper bins still trickles down past
hopper, damsel, runner stone and chute to be collected warm in
waiting sacks. The turn
of a handle releases a surge of water turning the stones to
produce barley meal. Click on the Hydropower link at the
top of this webpage for the new enterprise of
generating electricity. |
THE PAST ON DISPLAY
Reminders of the silk industry that fell between the floorboards
in the 1820s are now on exhibition in the Silk Room, together
with many panels depicting the machinery and people that are an
integral part of the mill's history. Other displays feature
local flooding and photographs taken during restoration work.
The guided tour includes demonstrations of millstone dressing
and of grinding and generating using the water-power. |
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