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Greetings!
I got to thinking
the other day, as I plugged a leak in the ancient wall that divides
the mill race from the mill wheel compartment, how exactly old is
Nether Wallop Mill?
The easy bit is
that we know a mill was listed as being here in the Domesday Book but
that takes you only so far. There are over 6,000 mills listed in the
Book with no indication of how old each was at the time of William
the Conqueror’s census, but it seems reasonable to assume that sort
of number indicates that plenty of them date back many, many
centuries earlier. But how many centuries? That is the tricky bit.
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Nether
Wallop Mill with Dutch influenced roof to mill building top left
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Of course, it must
be said that absolutely none of those mills listed in 1086 exist
today as they did then. Mills were in a constant state of evolution,
as technology and the need moved on. They were also prone to fire.
Here at Nether Wallop the current iteration dates from 1911 when the
mill went from flour production to game feed production. Why? Well,
local flour mills had been falling to obsolescence during the latter
half of the 19th century as the repeal of the Corn Laws opened up the
domestic market to imported corn that due to its harder husk required
larger, more industrial style mills that were built, inevitably,
either on docksides or beside railways. The village mill, that ground
locally grown corn for local people, gradually became a thing of the
past. Even the game food market was not enough to sustain Nether
Wallop Mill forever, it eventually ceasing production in 1949.
Prior to 1911, as a
flour mill, Nether Wallop was a two storey building of distinct Dutch
influence, which seems to suggest it was significantly remodelled in
the late 1600’s when many Lowland people moved to England to satisfy
the demand for water meadow design and construction that exploded
around that period. Prior to the 17th century records are sketchy as
to exactly the nature of both the mill and the millers cottage but it
is clear that the re-routing of the river to capture the power of the
water by way of mill ponds, mill pools, leats and mill streams dates
back between one and two millennia regardless of what exact structure
surrounded the mill wheel.
A mill, any mill,
requires two things to justify its existence: the supply of the raw
material (corn) of which there was plenty grown around here and a
demand by the local population for the finished product (flour). So,
the absence of any definitive record of Nether Wallop Mill prior
to the Domesday Book I looked to the history of the Wallop valley to
understand a time when the village population could sustain a mill.
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Part of the
difficulty in nailing down an accurate date for the mill is the sheer
breadth of time of human habitation around these parts. Nether Wallop
is in the lee of Danebury Hill, the Wallop Brook the closest water
source for a place that has been of strategic importance for
millennia with graves dating back to 2,000 BC when inhabited by the
Beaker folk. However, it is unlikely that these primitive people
built a mill for the earliest reports of mills in Britain comes from
Roman times, who settled in the Wallop valley shortly after the new
millennium until they left in 410 AD.
The departure of
the Romans does not suggest any existential crisis for the people of
Wallop for, in 600 AD, the Saxons invaded and settled in the
valley so it was presumably of some value, which would have been
enhanced by its proximity to Winchester which later became the
capital of England under the reign of Alfred the Great in the ninth
century. The final date in this calendar jigsaw is 1030 AD when
our church, a substantial one for its time, was built for what was
presumably a thriving community.
In terms of a
timeline a thousand years from the Romans to the Saxon church is
something of a long one but I think commonsense guides us in a few
useful directions. Firstly, the village would not have magically
appeared so I think we can safely assume it took at least two or
three centuries to become the village that required a church. At the
other end I cannot imagine the first thing the Romans did, if ever,
was to build a mill in Nether Wallop though it must be said the
Wallop valley sits at a nexus of Roman roads, pilgrim trails,
wayfarer routes and sheep and corn trade.
Does all this get
me any closer to answering the question, how old is my mill? Well, in
the absence of an archaeological dig, it does at least give me a
better steer and take me away from the lazy ‘as it is listed in the
Domesday Book’ commentary. My best guess is for around the time of
that Saxon invasion, which puts Nether Wallop Mill of an age of over
1,500 years which is, whatever way you look at it, pretty damn
amazing.
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Film of the Week - All That is Sacred
Chris Hunt has just
written for Hatch magazine a rave review of All That is
Sacred, a 34 minute documentary that tells the tale of tarpon
fishing and the hippy counterculture that surrounded it in Key West,
Florida during the 1970’s.
Having watched it
twice I am not sure I would rave quite as much as Hunt, where
everyone appeared to be a Bjorn Borg lookalike. Yes, I enjoyed it.
Yes, it got my juices for tarpon fishing flowing. Yes, watching one
my favourite authors Carl Hiaasen as a talking head was a real treat.
He has an amazing way with words, both spoken and written. In fact,
it is strange to hear him deferring to the authors about which the
film was ostensibly made – Jim Harrison, Tom McGuane and Richard
Brautigan – when really he is at worst their equal but probably their
better.
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I think my real
problem is that those who enjoyed Key West back then, the
southernmost city of continental USA, when it was ‘out there’ half a
century ago trash it for be overfished and overrun by tourists today.
Excuse me, were you not all blow ins once upon a time? You are, at
least in part, responsible for what it is today so do not be angling
NIMBYs. But for all that it is definitely worth a watch and since it
is free on You Tube give it a go.
PS If you watch
carefully you will notice nearly everyone back in the 1970’s reeled
with the right hand. I have no idea when the absurd notion that right
handers should reel left handed took hold but I am glad that it is
one habit that has passed me by, as it should you.
PPS Carl Hiaasen
has Bad Monkey just out on Apple TV.
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Words from the Wye
My old pal John
Bailey from our outpost on the English/Welsh border has checked in
with some uplifting news from the River Wye, which has been in
something of a maelstrom of bad publicity of late.
“It would be wrong
for me to single out any one of my Fishing Break’s customers down on
the Wye this summer and space doesn’t really allow for me to name
all. I’ll just say that I have loved dealing with every single one of
them and that without exception they have responded so positively to
what I have tried to teach ... or should that be preach? I’ve enjoyed
endless days of fun and inspiration with really good people and I
hope my Fishing Breaks companions feel the same. We’ve EVEN caught
some fish! I highlight “even” of course because the Wye has received
so much heartbreaking publicity that many must wonder if there’s as
much as a stickleback left alive in it. So, what about the river,
then?
Yes, the news
is right. Phosphate levels are through the roof and this is extremely
likely to be in large or total part down to the number of chicken
farms in the catchment. The result has been devastating. Ranunculus,
that glorious weed that was such a feature of the river, has entirely
vanished these past few years. The water runs perpetually cloudy and
the stony bed , once glisteningly unsullied, is now layered with a
dirty film. The fly life is inhibited and as a result bird
populations have diminished. A sad aside here is that the various
campaigning groups seem in frequent disagreement over courses of
action and the resulting squabbles are not productive. Do not get me
started on the feeble attitude to all this on the parts of the EA and
NRW. Can anyone think of a single contribution they have made to
alleviating this tragedy? Pusillanimous. Invisible. Not fit for
purpose. Remind me why I continue to pay my fishing licence
please.
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John Bailey
taking credit for fish caught by the client!
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The worsening lack
of water clarity and hatching fly life has made fly fishing for
barbel this season pretty thankless compared with last summer but
thankfully fishing with bait has not suffered, albeit after a slow
start. Trotting, touch ledgering, bouncing baits, surface baits for
BIG chub…as we move into the autumn, results should only get better
but already twenty plus chub each day with plenty of six pounders is
normal. Barbel are somewhat trickier but so they should be. A couple
of good ones generally come along and of course, now is the time for
the clonking perch that have long lived here under the angling
radar. I rent or own five private beats so that there is almost
always a biting fish somewhere! I like to keep us mobile so that
means different challenges on a variety of different water types.
So, just like last
year, I welcome my collaboration with Mr Cooper. Fascinating fishing
companions and sprightly fishing on an iconic river make for
memorable days. In an unexpected way, the fact that nearly ALL rivers
are suffering mightily enhances the precious nature of these sessions
perhaps. We really are at a crossroads in angling history.
Wild fish numbers of all species have plummeted this century and if
stoic anglers like us turn our backs , there is simply no one left to
defend them.”
You can book a
guided day on the River Wye for barbel and chub, with bait or fly,
though Fishing Breaks. Click here for details
….
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August Special
Offers
You really hoovered
up the offers of the past few weeks but with additional Fridays at
Barton Court, the Compton Chamberlayne week starting on Monday and
the chance for exclusive use of Abbots Worthy there are still
bargains to be had.
Check them out here
…..
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Compton
Chamberlayne - River Nadder
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The normal
random collection of questions inspired by the date, events or
topics in the Newsletter. It is just for fun with answers at the
bottom of the page.
1) Who is regarded as the first king of all England?
2) Which 1993 Carl Hiaasen book was turned into a
1996 movie starring Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds?
3) Who won his first Formula 1 World Drivers
Championship on this day in 1992?
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Have a good
weekend.
Best wishes,
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Quiz answers:
1) Athelstan, the Anglo-Saxon king who reigned from 927
to 939.
2) Strip Tease
3) Nigel Mansell
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