Life of a Chalkstream: How old is my mill?

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.

Nether Wallop Mill with Dutch influenced roof to mill building top left

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.

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.

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.

All That is Scared

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.

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.

John Bailey taking credit for fish caught by the client!

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 ….

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 …..

Compton Chamberlayne - River Nadder

Quiz

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?