Description

PLYMTREE
ST 00 SE
3/121 Danes Mill
-
GV II

Former mill and miller's house. The house is mid - late C17, the mill is mid - late
C19. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, part of the mill is brick; stone
rubble stacks topped with C19 brick; slate roof, formerly thatch over the house.
Plan: the building faces south-east built across and terraced into the bottom of
the hillside. The former mill occupies the left (south-west) end, the rest is taken
up by the house. The house has a 3-room plan. The largest room is the living room,
the former parlour, which has a gable-end stack backing onto the former mill. This
room has been united with a small central room. Its front corner stack was inserted
in the C19. At the right end there is an unheated service room. There is here a
disused gable-end stack. If this is original this room was probably the kitchen. A
passage along the back of the central room connects the end rooms. Most of the mill
has now been brought into domestic use. The main part is a large room (now a
kitchen) on the same axis as the main block. Here was formerly the mill gearing
with the grindstones on the floor above. A 1-room plan service block projects
forward in front of the the left part of the main block. The former wheelhouse
projects full height from the left end. The rear wall of the mill is cob suggesting
C17 or earlier origins but the rest was rebuilt in the C19. The house is 2 storeys;
the mill is 2 storeys with lofts.
Exterior: irregular 1:5 - window front of mostly C19 but with some C20 casements
with glazing bars. The service room window at the right end is unglazed with
internal shutters and has a low segmental arch over. The front doorway is left of
centre and contains a C19 panelled door. The mill lofts were originally open and
are now clad with corrugated iron. In the wheelhouse the leat has been infilled and
the wheels removed but there is still evidence here for 2 overshot wheels. The roof
is gable-ended.
Interior: in the former miller's house the main room has a chamfered crossbeam with
scroll-double nick stops. The fireplace has been lined with brick but has its
original oak lintel, chamfered with runout stops. The right end room crossbeam is
chamfered with scroll stops. The fireplace here and the one in the centre room both
have C20 grates. The roof is carried on A-frame trusses with pegged and spiked lap-
jointed collars; it is probably original. The former mill has plain C19 carpentry
detail.
Danes Mill nas a very attractive setting with the River Tale passing in front of the
house towards nearby Danes Bridge (q.v) and an orchard on the other side.

Listing NGR: ST0753303366

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26456121

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

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey