Enton Mill and Enton Mill West, Witley, Surrey

Summary

Corn Mill of circa 1621 and a contemporary adjoining mill house.

Description

DATE: the original mill building dates from the early C17 but was re-roofed circa 1754 with a date stone on the chimneystack. The mill house has a date stone of 1621 on the north wall. Both were refurbished circa 1908 in a Tudor style, by Charles A Mackenzie Skues. A western extension was added soon afterwards and circa 1921 a detached cottage was built further west for the owner's mother-in-law which was linked to the main house a few years later by a billiard room link block, all by the same architect.

MATERIALS: the original corn mill is a timber-framed building clad in weather-boarding. The adjoining cottage is built of local stone with ironstone galletting and tile-hung gables. The western extensions to the mill are timber framed with brick infill. The roofs are tiled with brick chimneystacks. Windows are mainly early C20 iron casements with leaded lights and elaborate iron catches.

PLAN: the plan consists of an original four-bay mill aligned north-west to south-east with a three-bay mill house adjoining at right angles to the east, a drawing room extension to the west of the mill followed further west by a curved billiard room and at the western end a formerly separate cottage.

EXTERIOR: the eastern part of Enton Mill is the former mill house which, because of the slope downwards to the north, was originally of two storeys and attics on the north side, but the lower storey was buried circa 1908. It is built of local stone with ironstone galleting and red brick dressings. The south side has two projecting gables hung with plain and curved tiles and has a large axial chimneystack, but the right side is recessed with a gabled dormer with curved tiles. Windows are early C20 casement windows with leaded lights. Originally there were no windows on the south side. The east end gable has alternate courses of plain and patterned tiles. The north or garden front has three gabled dormers, three cast iron casements and a moulded brick band, originally between the floors before the ground floor was buried.

The adjoining former mill building is set at right angles to the mill house and on the south side retains a right hand door in its original position, but the wooden weather hood on brackets was added circa 1908 together with cast iron footscrapers and a horseshoe-shaped pattern of ironstone setts in front of the door. The three casements in the gable also date from circa 1908. The side elevations have gabled dormers and the east side has a tall external brick chimneystack. In the centre of the roof is a gabled louvre. The north or garden front has a full-width, two-storey square bay of nine lights, hung with curved tiles between the floors.

The early C20 west wing of Enton Mill is of two-storeys on the south side and is timber-framed with brick infill. This consists of Flemish bond on the ground floor and a mixture of English bond and herringbone pattern on the first floor. The iron casement windows have leaded lights and there is a massive moulded brick end chimneystack. The north side is of two-storeys and attics with a massive right side gable with decorative curved braces and some herringbone and English bond brick infill which overhangs on brackets and a recessed porch with two hipped dormers above.

Adjoining to the west is the 1920s billiard room extension, now part of Enton Mill West. This is curved, single-storey and attics, timber-framed with herringbone brick infilling with leaded light windows and eyebrow dormers to both front and rear of the tiled roof.

At the western end is the former circa 1921 detached cottage now forming the major part of Enton Mill West. This is of two-storeys with a brick ground floor and a first floor partly timber-framed with brick infill and part weather-boarded. The south side has a large weather-boarded gable but the west side has an overhanging timber-framed gable with passing braces, a weather-boarded north gable and a further overhanging gable on the east side to the right of the main entrance.

INTERIOR: entrance into Enton Mill from the south side leads directly into a staircase-hall in the former mill building which, owing to the slope of the ground, is on the ground floor at the south side but on the first floor to the north. There are original timber-framed side walls but the floors were inserted circa 1908 and the principal feature of the hall is a spiral staircase leading to the lower floor which has at its centre the mast of a tea clipper of similar type to the Cutty Sark. A corridor leads to a north sitting room which has some original timber-framing, a ceiling beam (with one inch chamfer with run-out stop) and a brick corner fireplace. The dining room immediately below has a half-glazed screen, oak panelling and a four-centred arched stone fireplace. Throughout there are early C20 oak panelled doors. There are reclaimed baths from tea clippers. The top floor of the former mill building has an exposed roof structure with staggered purlins, angled queen struts and some exposed rafters together with carpenters' marks. One room retains an early C20 wooden fireplace.

The former mill house to the east contains a refurbished kitchen on the ground floor with one or two earlier exposed beams, and the upper floor retains the outline of the axial chimneystack. In the early C20 western extension is a straight flight staircase with moulded balusters leading from the ground to the first floor. At the south end of the ground floor is a study with a brick fireplace but the major part of this floor contains a large drawing room with axial ceiling beams. One former bathroom retains a mosaic floor.

Entrance into Enton Mill West is from the north-west leading into the entrance hall which has a straight flight staircase with stick balusters and chamfered newel posts. The curved former billiard room (now living room) is of three bays with axial beams supported on curved brackets and at the eastern end is a round-headed door which formerly led directly into Enton Mill. At the western end is a raised platform with a four-centred stone fireplace and painted panelling with a plate shelf. The adjoining cloakroom has early C20 mosaic walls and floors. The kitchen has a painted brick fireplace with moulded shelf and built-in wooden cupboards. The bedrooms have similar painted brick fireplaces and built-in cupboards and the larger bedroom has exposed ceiling timbers. There is also a bathroom with mosaic walls and floor.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURE: to the north of the house is a circa 1908 boundary wall and gate arch. The wall is about three feet high of red brick in English bond with angled brick coping and square brick piers at regular intervals but one section in the centre consists of a cast iron panel with floral motifs. At each end of the wall are long tile-topped garden seats. At the eastern end is a round-headed brick arch containing a wooden pedestrian gate with large cast iron hinges and latch.

History

A mill on this site was recorded in the Domesday Book. The oldest part of Enton Mill, the former mill building, aligned north-west to south-east, dates from the early C17 but is said to have been rebuilt in 1754. The roof structure is of that date and there is a date stone of 1754 on a chimney. The former mill house attached to the west of the mill is dated 1621 on the north wall. Enton Mill and its adjoining mill house was the subject of a watercolour called 'Sheep Washing' by the artist William Hull (1820-1880). The mill, labelled corn mill, and the separate adjoining cottage are shown on the First Edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey map of 1871 with no change on the 1897 Second Edition. In 1903 Gertrude Jekyll photographed the miller standing at the roadside entrance to the mill adjoining the cottage for her 1904 book 'Old West Surrey' and also photographed part of the north side of the cottage and some stone steps near the mill.

In 1908 John Wilson Potter (1856-1933) bought Enton Mill as a country residence. He was a shipbroker from a family firm connected with Australian Shipping and had leased the Cutty Sark and owned other tea clippers including the Thermopylae. The architect Charles A Mackenzie Skues of 45 Lincoln's Inn Fields was employed to convert the mill into residential accommodation and add a western extension for Potter's large family. The mill pond at the south was landscaped and the mill pond to the north was enlarged to form a lake, an early commercial fly-fishing lake, which resulted in the loss of the lower ground floor of the mill house circa 1908. The Third Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1916 shows only an L-shaped structure here, comprising the former mill which has lost a projection on the east side and the mill house with no divisions between them; Enton Mill is labelled 'Disused'. Another change is that part of the northern mill pond has been reclaimed to provide extensive gardens and there is a weir shown for the first time.

Enton Mill was extended westwards to provide a drawing room and study with bedrooms above and this addition is not shown on the 1916 map. In about 1921 a cottage, understood to have been built for Potter's mother in law, was built to the west. This was later joined to the main house by a curved link block containing a billiard room on the ground floor with bedrooms above. In 1959 this 1920s addition became a separate property now called Enton Mill West.

Reasons for Listing

Enton Mill and Enton Mill West are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Age and rarity: Enton Mill incorporates a corn mill dating from circa 1621 with early C17 timber-framed walls and C18 roof structure. The adjoining mill house has a date stone of 1621 on the north side and retains significant early fabric;
* Architectural interest: the former watermill retains its vernacular weather-boarded exterior and the mill house is constructed of local stone with galleting and local brick quoins with ornamental tile-hanging to the gables. The early C20 refurbishing kept the outlines of the earlier buildings with the addition of further window openings with good quality iron casements with leaded lights. The Tudor-style additions are varied and well-articulated, constructed of timber-framing with brick infill of several bond patterns, and include a curved billiard room extension with eyebrow dormers;
* Interiors: Enton Mill retains its early C17 wall frame and C18 roof structure to the former mill and a C17 chimneystack and some ceiling beams to the mill house. Additionally Enton Mill incorporates the mast of a C19 tea clipper at the centre of a spiral staircase and probably other salvaged ships materials. Both Enton Mill and Enton Mill West contain good quality early C20 oak joinery including panelled doors, ceiling beams, oak panelling, staircases, also mosaic floors and stone and brick fireplaces;
* Historical interest: Enton Mill was the subject of a pre-1880 watercolour by the distinguished artist William Hull (1820-1880) when it was still a working corn mill. Gertrude Jekyll, who lived nearby at Munstead Wood from 1895 provided photographs of Enton Mill and referred to it in her 1904 book 'Old West Surrey' and is thought to have designed a rose garden here, since lost. John Wilson Potter, owner of Enton Mill after 1908 who carried out the conversion, was a member of a famous Glasgow firm of shipping agents.

External Links

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