Description

WEYMOUTH

SY6685 CHURCH STREET, Upwey
873-1/5/545 (West side)
12/12/53 Upwey Mill
(Formerly Listed as:
CHURCH STREET, Upwey
(West side)
The Mill (to rear of Mill House))

GV II*

Corn mill. Dated IG 1802 on stone under hoist. Squared and
coursed Portland stone, large flush quoins, slate roof.
PLAN: a compact building in 4 floors plus attic, with overshot
wheel fed from a leat immediately behind (to the W), and
prominent projecting hoist clad and roofed in corrugated-iron.
EXTERIOR: in 5 bays, the central bay with hauling doors.
Windows are all 3-light horizontal bar wood casements to stone
voussoirs with projecting key, but no sills.
Bay 3 has a narrow pair of plank doors from a stone landing to
a paired stone stair flight with simple iron rail containing a
gate opposite the doors; above are plank hauling doors, and
the deep projecting hoist housing on props. Low right is a
very wide opening with segmental arch, to the wheel. The
half-hipped gables each contain a Diocletian window with
small-pane glazing, and, in the S end, a 12-pane sash at
second-floor level. In the right return is a wide opening
giving to the very large iron wheel, approx 7m diameter and
approx 2.7m wide.
Beyond is a stables and cart-shed building with
corrugated-iron mansard roof; there are 2 doors with loading
doors in dormers over. The rear has two 3-light casements at
first and second floors, with a further fixed 9-pane at first
floor; all these to wood lintels with a stop-chamfered soffit
under relieving arches. Near the centre at leat level is a
plank door on a high stone step, with, low to the left, a
brick segmental arch to the wheel-race. The leat has dressed
stone revetments adjoining the mill, and a cast-iron drop gate
to the sluice.
INTERIOR: not accessible for inspection, but known to be
complete with machinery, as described in the previous list,
with a vertical pit-wheel with wooden cogs driving a vertical
shaft and horizontal wheel to 2 pairs of millstones at first
floor, and gearing to the upper floor, all in a massive timber
frame. The main structure appears to be a series of massive
transverse beams in 5 bays. The RCHME volume has a set of
drawings which include the machinery layout.

HISTORICAL NOTE: in a letter of 1910 Thomas Hardy writes:
"Overcombe Mill (in The Trumpet Major) is a composite picture
of Upwey and Sutton Poyntz, containing features of both". This
would be very appropriate, as the Mill would be very new at
the time referred to in Trumpet Major (viz 1805).
The mill, which was still operating until 1991, was empty and
unused at the time of survey, but, with the adjacent Mill
House (qv), is of historical and architectural significance.
(RCHME: Dorset, South-East: London: 1970-: 367; Scott E: The
Water Mill at Upwey: Weymouth: 1989-).

Listing NGR: SY6625085076

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554210

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)