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River Ouse, Sussex
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==Milling== The river has been used as a source of power, with nine mills known to have existed on the main channel, with four more on the Shortbridge Stream, three on the Bevern Stream, and a tide mill at Bishopstone, to the east of Newhaven.{{sfn |Stidder |Smith |1997 |p=24}} The northernmost of the mills on the main channel was Fletching Mill. A forge was operational at the site in 1574, but was replaced by a corn mill when the iron industry declined. This was replaced by a three-storey brick and timber building at some point, which was later supplemented by a four-storey square extension with a flat roof, from which the owners, the Maryon-Wilson family, could watch cricket matches at Sheffield Park. While the navigation was in use, there was a wharf just to the north of the mill, where barges moored to deliver grain or collect produce. The mill ceased to use water power in the 1920s, when Tidy & Sons owned it, but was in use until 1940, when the War Office requisitioned it to billet soldiers in it. Much of the fabric of the building was damaged during this period, and it was only used irregularly after the war, until it was demolished in 1950, as was the hump-back bridge at the front of the building.{{sfn |Stidder |Smith |1997 |pp=26, 41-42}} Between 1813 and 1816, a local papermaker called James Pim bought a property called "Sharp's" in Newick, and built a paper mill close to Sharp's Bridge Lock. He was the only occupant of the building, and by the time it was offered for sale in 1853, the details in the sale documents make it clear that paper making had ceased. They noted that the mill was next to a wharf, and that it was powered by a single engine. No buyer was found, and the mill had been demolished by the time the 1874 Ordnance Survey map was published. There is still a "Sharp's Bridge House" near to the bridge, which was probably the property bought by Pim in 1813.{{sfn |Stidder |Smith |1997 |p=27}} Isfield Paper Mill was built on a {{convert|2|acre|ha|adj=on}} site next to Isfield Lock, which the proprietors of the navigation offered for sale in 1793. Molineux and Johnston bought the land and built a large mill, for which the opening ceremony in July 1809 was a grand affair, according to the ''Sussex Weekly Advertiser''. Success was fairly short-lived, as it was offered for sale in 1855, together with Molineux and Johnston's other mill at Lewes. Neither mill was sold, and the building materials from a foreman's cottage, nine other cottages, stone from the leats and two large cast iron waterwheels were sold at auction on 28 September 1857. There is some evidence for another mill further downstream, as Isfield Old Mill appears on Greenwood's map of 1823, and the 1874 Ordnance Survey map shows details of the leats, but it was not mentioned on the Tithe Apportionment of 1840, which is usually a reliable source of information. It was probably dismantled in the late 18th century.{{sfn |Stidder |Smith |1997 |pp=31-32}} At Barcombe there were two mills, the most northerly of which was known as Barcombe Oil Mill, although this hid the fact that it was also used for milling corn. It was established soon after the navigation opened in 1793, and the mill was unusual in its location, in that most oil production took place in [[East Anglia]]. Seeds were crushed by edge rolling millstones, and then held in linen bags to be beaten by trip hammers. The process was initially powered by waterwheel, but subsequently a {{convert|28|hp|kW|adj=on|abbr=on}} [[beam engine]] was installed, and by 1880 was driving 16 hydraulic presses. Oil was used in the production of soap and paint, while oil cake was used as cattle feed, fertiliser and fuel. Much of the mill was destroyed by fire on 6 June 1854, when slicks of burning oil floated downstream and threatened Barcombe Mill. The cost of the repairs was estimated to be between Β£7,000 and Β£8,000, but the mill was rebuilt and continued trading. When offered for sale in 1880, it could produce 80 [[Long ton|tons]] of oil cake and 200 [[Quarter (unit)|quarters]] of wheat per week. The beam engine supplemented two breastshot water wheels, one made of iron and the other of wood. The mill was served by a siding on the Lewes to Uckfield Railway after the demise of the navigation, continuing in use until at least 1911, and was demolished around 1917.{{sfn |Stidder |Smith |1997 |pp=22, 35-36}} Barcombe Mill was considerably older, as Thomas Erith had a fulling mill in the 16th century. It was used as a corn mill and paper mill prior to the owner becoming bankrupt in 1706. It developed once the navigation provided transport links, enabling flour and produce to reach Lewes to the south and several villages to the north. The owners at the time were Thomas Rickman & Son, who also owned Barcombe Oil Mill. A siding from the mill to [[Barcombe Mills railway station]] revolutionised transport, and a new, larger mill was built in 1870, with four floors and powered by two enclosed water wheels. It could produce 500 to 600 sacks of flour each week. Ownership passed to William Catt & Sons in 1879, who also ran the tide mill at Bishopstone, and in 1894 they installed a Turner five-sack roller mill. A {{convert|60|hp|kW|abbr=on}} compound engine was used to power the roller mill, while three pairs of millstones were driven by a "Little Giant" turbine. Milling ceased in 1918, and after a period of dereliction, it was used to manufacture buttons, made by slicing Italian nuts. Button production started in 1931, but the mill building was destroyed by fire in March 1939. It had been one of the biggest watermills in Sussex, but little remains apart from the four channels,{{sfn |Stidder |Smith |1997 |pp=22, 36-37}} while a grass mound where the main building was conceals an atmospheric [[syphon]] installed in the 1960s, which is used to force water downstream when the river is in spate.{{sfn |OART |2015 |p=7}} Continuing downstream, Germany Mill was built near the village of Hamsey in 1744. When the navigation was constructed, the course of the river was altered, and the mill lost its water supply. The three-storey brick and flint building still exists, but is now used for drying grain. Lewes Paper Mill was owned by Messrs Molineux, Johnston & Lee, and operated from 1802 until its demolition in 1825. A large flour mill powered by steam was built on the site in 1860, but was short-lived, closing in 1868. Burgeon's map dating from 1724 mentions a tide mill at Lewes, but no other references to it are known to exist.{{sfn |Stidder |Smith |1997 |p=38}} The final mill was Bishopstone Tide Mill, located a little to the east of the present mouth of the river. The Duke of Newcastle, [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|Thomas Pelham]], obtained an Act of Parliament to authorise construction of the mill on the foreshore of land that he owned at Bishopstone. The first mill was completed in 1788, by which time Pelham had died. It was sold in 1791 to Thomas Barton, and the sale documents listed five pairs of stones, capable of producing 130 quarters of week each week. The new owner built a large mill with three storeys, capable of producing 1,500 sacks of flour each week, using 16 pairs of stones. The site was regularly affected by storms, with wheat and flour destroyed in 1792, while in 1820, the building was damaged and part of the dam was washed away. After 1853, the volume of flour produced gradually declined, often as a result of weather conditions, but it continued in operation until March 1883, when there was another violent storm and the new harbour at Newhaven required more water. The site which was known as [[Tide Mills, East Sussex|Tide Mills]] was much more than just the mill buildings, as 60 men were employed, and William Catt, the owner until his death in 1853, built cottages for his workers and a school for the children. Transport of the flour to markets improved when the Newhaven to Seaford railway line opened, and the mill was served by a siding. Some of the buildings remained in use for various purposes until the end of the Secord World War, but virtually nothing remains of what was the largest water mill in Sussex.{{sfn |Stidder |Smith |1997 |pp=39-40}}
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