Flour grinding moves closer after mill's river work

A river under one of the country's oldest watermills has been dammed as part of work that is hoped will see flour being ground once again.

The River Itchen has been temporarily blocked so that a new sluice gate can be installed at Winchester City Mill.

It will also allow work on the mill's huge water wheel, which will enable flour production to restart after a pause of several years.

Manager of the National Trust-owned mill Kim Burrell said it was a "key milestone" in restoring the building and machinery.

The mill, which dates back to the 10th Century, was given to the National Trust in the 1920s.

Its watermill was declared unsuitable for use and decommissioned in 2023.

The current restoration project was started with the aim of getting the machinery fully functioning and able to grind flour. It was boosted by National Lottery funding, and £130,00 from a public fundraising campiagn.

For the first time in more than 20 years, the powerful River Itchen that rushes beneath the mill has been temporarily dammed to allow the new sluice gate to be installed.

The new sluice gate, which will be completed by the end of September, replaces a gate that had reached the end of its life and needed to be removed.

The gate allows the flow and volume of water into the mill, in front of the water wheel, to be controlled.

A blue flume has also been fitted, to maintain a small flow of water through the mill race, allowing aquatic wildlife to move freely while the work is underway.

The latest work is part of the effort to reinstate the mill's 3m-wide, two-tonne water wheel.

"It's been tricky but we got it done," Burrell said.

"The new axle is in, the new waterwheel is in. We've still got a bit of work to do on the water wheel but we're nearly there and nearly back to milling again, which we're all excited about.

"This is another significant phase in the mill's history. We're looking forward to milling again."

Winchester City Mill is one of the oldest watermills in the country, with a history dating back more than 1,000 years.

A mill has existed on the site of Winchester City Mill since at least Saxon times.

Early records from 932AD and 989AD refer to a watermill owned by the Benedictine nunnery of Wherwell Abbey.

In the Domesday survey of 1086 the mill is recorded as one of the most profitable of its kind in the country.

However, a series of bad harvests in the early 14th Century, along with The Black Death, accelerated its decline and the mill was recorded as derelict by 1471.

It was rebuilt and extended in 1743 by new tenant James Cooke.

Having been used as a laundry during World War One, it was saved from demolition by a group of local benefactors who presented it to the National Trust in 1928.

After a restoration, a public milling demonstration took place in March 2004 after a gap in commercial production of some 90 years.

Burrell said: "The mill has a lot of provenance when it comes to the city of Winchester and its people. This has been here for over a thousand years.

"We think it's really important to get people back in to see the working machinery and to be able to take home flour from the shop."