Kimberley's old watermill - natural springs, steam railways and watercress beds

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"The old watermill was situated at the side of the Green Brook, near the Midland Railway station. Lying snugly in the hollow with beautifully kept gardens, it was one of the prettiest spots in Kimberley". 


So says a beautifully-written 1925 Kimberley school history project. It was illustrated by a Miss Lucy A. Waters, a young teacher at the British School on Newdigate Road. Her drawing would not have been contemporary as the watermill closed sometime before 1844. The project continues...

"Since the coming of the railway [on 1st Sept 1882], the Brook at this part of its course has been covered in. This pleasant little stream had its origin in Hollywell Spring from which welled up a copious supply of water from the reservoirs below. Its course was on the site of the Midland Railway cutting on which were at least a score of cottages and substantially built houses."

A 1925 impression of the old watermill by
Lucy A. Waters a young teacher at Kimberley's British School

"The Brook, laden with sweet water from the spring babbled past the cottage doors. It then passed under the Alley and flowed down by the end of Bedlam Row, a row of small houses inhabited 90 years ago by very respectable people. Its crystal clear waters then coursed merrily by the side of the old mill house. It crossed the turnpike by means of a culvert, then entered the field in front of the Church. This field which included the ground now occupied by the road and railway has been elevated considerably. 

Here it broadened out into a small lake in the middle of which was an island planted with trees. Both at the end of Bedlam Row and at the bottom of Chetel Bank were famous beds of watercress." 

Watercress was a popular working man's snack and heavily cultivated in the middle of the 19th century. You can still find crystal clear water and beds of wild watercress further downstream by the A610 today.

Kimberley's Midland Station, site of the old watermill.
It was in the "Arts and Crafts" style with terracotta motif decorations.

c.1840 Kimberley before the railways
"The Alley" is shown as Cuckold's Alley which is Hardy Street today.
Like at Buxton, a public water springhead was housed in an arched alcove 
still visible today under the brewery footbridge². 

"The mill would no doubt be very similar to the one depicted. This the oldest type of wheel is called the overshot, from the fact that the water is shot over the top of it and turns it in this way. In the illustration it will be noted that the sluice is down and the water running to waste. 

The rush of water and the booming of the mill and the unresting wheel sending out its diamond jets of water would be a never failing source of pleasure to the children of Kimberley. No doubt from very early times a mill has stood on this site, as before the introduction of the windmill in the 12th century the Lord of the Manor would have his mill. 

The late Thomas Bexon who lived to be 90 always maintained that Mr. Swift the miller was the strongest man he had ever met; well-built and of powerful frame, he saw him in 1834 carry two sacks of corn, one under each arm. Mr. Swift belonged to a family of millers; one, Thomas Swift, had a mill at Basford and afterwards at the Castle Mill at Linby¹. Prior to its occupation by the Swifts, the Kimberley mill was called Lindley's Mill." 

According to JM Lee's history of Kimberley, Edward Lindley was a purchaser of land at the Duke of Rutland's land auction in 1816, so he wasn’t an ancient owner of the mill. He bought land at the top of the Alley and also the parcel where the mill stood. White’s Directory for 1844 lists Mr Widdowson as the only miller in Kimberley, which seems to confirm that Lindley’s was not in use by that time. Widdowson owned Lawn Mill's windmills. Click here for our article about them. The video below shows the operation of a similar overshot watermill...

"In 1845 the mill house was converted into two houses and was occupied by Wm. Slater and Wm. Chambers; the latter was the grandfather of the late Mr. Walter Henson of Noel St. The present tenants are Mrs. Allcorn and A. Raynor. 

A hundred years ago [1825] there was a sufficient flow of water to work two stones. Today owing to the breweries tapping the the brook at its source and the underground colliery workings taking their toll through cracks in the strata, the volume is somewhat diminished. 

There was a similar mill at Beggarlee which ceased working some 50 years ago. The miller in In 1832 was John Wood. The dam of this mill has been converted into swimming baths." [Shown below].

Beggerlee Baths, used to be on Engine Lane, Eastwood

Green Brook today
The name "Green Brook" has fallen out of use (probably as the brook was diverted into pipes and culverts) but anyone who has walked the bed of the Midland Railway cutting in more recent years will know that the old Green Brook is gradually re-exerting its presence. Not content to be piped and culverted by man's redundant engineering projects, it has burst forth and flows quite copiously at times before disappearing into the bowels of the old brewery and then on through wild watercress beds towards the Hogs Head where it re-emerges as crystal clear as ever.
NB - Watercress warning - don't go foraging for wild watercress unless you know what you are doing. It is easy to mistake it for hemlock water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata), one of the deadliest plants in the northern hemisphere.

To read about Kimberley and Watnall's other mills, wind and steam-powered, please click here to see these other articles from the "Tales From Watnall Hall" archives...

Watnall's Holy Well, source of the brook that fed the watermill



c.1910's - Wider view of the Midland Station area where the watermill once stood
Courtesy of Paul Browne on Facebook




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Sources

A 1925 school project on a poster from the Kimberley British School on Newdigate Road. Courtesy of Carolynn Hobbs and her grandad.



Watercress history

NCC survey and management plan for the brook -  https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/okscwsu5/kimberley-green-and-great-north-railway-path-habitat-management-plan.pdf

JM Lee Kimberley history book - Lee, J M. A Brief History of Kimberley (Brief Histories, North Nottingham Book 1) . UNKNOWN. Kindle Edition. 


Waterwheels different types

Notes

1 - Castle Mill (also known as Top Mill) at Linby, where Kimberley's miller Thomas Swift had previously worked, was have been a different design to the overshot watermill at Kimberley. The water wheel at Castle Mill was a breast-shot wheel attached to the east end of the building. This photograph shows the wheel in the late 1940s just before it was removed.

The mill was built by the Robinson family in about 1782.  After the cotton mills closed in the 1820s, this mill was converted for use as a corn-mill. 

https://papplewick.org/history/top-mill-also-known-as-castle-mill/


2 - The Alley Spring drinking fountain is still actually there hidden behind the brick wall according to Roy Plumb, Kimberley local historian... "Hello Chris,  I have never seen a picture of the well, which is still there, behind the bricked up arch. Yes it was a public well, but following an agreement with Kimberley Parish Council,  when the brewery erected the building, currently on that site, in the 1920's it was agreed access to the well could be blocked off in the understanding that the well could be reopened if a public need arose. Obviously that need never arose, but the agreement was never rescinded, so presumably it could still be accessed if needed! This is all recorded in the Council minutes of that time. Regards Roy"

The old road called Cuckold's Alley showing the arch where the
springhead once stood for locals to get water from the "Alley Spring".

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