Dunster Working Watermill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Dunster Working Watermill |
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Waterwheel
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Dunster |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°10′49″N 3°26′42″W / 51.18030°N 3.4449°W |
| Construction started | 1779 |
| Completed | 1782 |
The Dunster Working Watermill, also called Castle Mill, is a historic watermill from the 1700s. It sits on the River Avill near Gallox Bridge. You can find it in the beautiful grounds of Dunster Castle in Dunster, Somerset, England. This mill is a very important old building, listed as Grade II*. It's also part of the castle's historic parkland.
A mill has been on this spot since the Domesday Book was written in 1086. The building you see today was built around 1780. The mill stopped working in 1962. However, it was fixed up in 1979 and still grinds flour today! Its equipment is powered by two large overshot waterwheels. The National Trust owns and runs the mill.
How Old Is Dunster Mill?
The Domesday Book from 1086 mentions two mills in Dunster. One of these, called the Lower Mill, was on the same spot as the current mill. In the 1600s, there were mills for grinding malt and oats. By 1721, one of these had changed into a fulling mill, which processed cloth.
The mill building you see now was built around 1780. It replaced the two older mills. In 1940, a bakery was added to the site. The mill ground corn until World War II. After the war, it ground animal feed until it closed in 1962.
The Mill Today
The mill was brought back to life in 1979. It even won an award for its restoration in 1982. Today, the mill still makes flour from organic grains like wheat, rye, and spelt. A cafe now operates in the old wagon house and stables. More restoration work was finished in 2007. This work was paid for by the Exmoor Sustainable Development Fund.
The National Trust owns the mill. Members of the National Trust can visit for free. Others can buy a ticket to enter. About 60,000 visitors come to the mill each year. It produces around 10 tonnes of flour annually. The second waterwheel was replaced in 2015. The machines connected to it were repaired in 2016. The three French burr millstones were sharpened in 2023.
What Does Dunster Mill Look Like?
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The mill building has three floors and a slate roof. To the south-east, a stone wall has wrought iron gates in an arched entrance.
The mill's grinding equipment gets its power from two overshot waterwheels. These wheels turn other gears inside the mill. These gears include the pit wheel, spur wheel, and stone nut. This system then spins the large millstones. There are special trapdoors on the first and second floors. These allow grain to be lifted up the building using a sack hoist.
See also
- List of National Trust properties in Somerset
