Description

TL 7714 TERLING CHURCH ROAD

11/123 Mill dam forming road
bridge over River Ter,
and associated wheel
chamber and water pump
to the south

- II

Mill dam and wheel chamber of former watermill, 1767, and water pump, c.1870.
Red brick in English bond, abutments of bridge reinforced with concrete.
Aligned NE-SW across the River Ter, approx. 40 metres long, with 2 stilted round
arches over the main channel, and a smaller stilted round arch over an overflow
channel at the NE end. Wheel chamber and pump immediately S of SW end. On SE
face of dam a stone tablet inscribed 'J.S. 1767' and a bronze plaque 'Essex
County Council 1914'. The mill and associated works were constructed by John
Strutt. The mill was demolished by the second Lord Rayleigh, who installed
a pump in the original wheel-chamber, to supply drinking water to the village.
A cast iron pipe of square section led the intake, through a control valve
operated by a bevel gear, to drive an undershot cast iron wheel with 24 curved
vanes. The supply of drinking water was piped from a spring at Swan Pond, 250
metres to the S, to 3 galvanised horizontal cylinders bolted through their end
flanges to a cast iron chest containing 3 non-return valves. The water-wheel
drove a crankshaft mounted on 3 split bearings, and 3 connecting rods and
pistons. From the chest the water passed through a domed cylindrical collector
and a gravity-operated safety valve to a system of standpipes, with an overflow
in Wat Hobbs Lane. This sytem remained in use until c.1915, when it was
replaced by an engine-driven pump of larger capacity, required to supply a large
military camp. At the time of inspection, March 1985, the waterwheel and pump
were complete except for one broken vane, one piston, connecting rod and
big-end, part of the control gear, and oil cups for the bearings (G.A. Isted, A
Story of Terling, 1977, 3-9).

Listing NGR: TL7711114699

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26416513

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)