The walk along the river to Woodmill has always been a favourite of mine but, since the first lockdown, it has been a walk I’ve regretfully abandoned. The parks have been too full of people for my liking. It was the news that finally dragged me back. On 11 May 2021, a stolen Nissan Micra drove into the side of the mill and badly damaged the building. From the report I’d seen in the Echo, and on the local news, it looked worrying but the initial work to repair the damage had been completed and I wanted to have a look for myself.
Luckily on the last Thursday in May, relatively early in the morning, the park wasn’t too crowded. I strolled along the river thinking about the mill and wondering if it would ever be the same again. Part of me was angry. By all accounts the car had been stolen by three young lads, one, a fourteen year old boy, had been caught and arrested. The crash had happened in the early afternoon and I couldn’t help thinking of how much worse it could have been. It was only luck that no other cars were involved, that no one was walking through the mill when it happened and no one inside the building was hurt. Perhaps these lads thought they were having a joy ride? Hopefully the error of their ways has been made clear to them now.
One of the things I’ve missed during the pandemic is walking through the park and along the river, so I couldn’t stay cross for long. There were still far more people about than I’d have liked, but there were also swans to make me smile. The gulls, squabbling over bread thrown from the jetty and a cygnet following his mother reminded me of why I love this walk so much.
Then I reached the mill and I was cross all over again. The wall had been partly repaired but seeing the damage in real life made me realise just how bad the crash had been. It really was a miracle that no one was hurt and the historic old mill building is never going to be quite the same again. Given its important place in the history of Southampton and the connection it has with both the old walls and Mayfield Park, this is a terrible shame.
Since medieval times there has been a corn mill on the spot where the fresh river water of the Itchen meets the tidal salt water. Back then it was one of many on the banks of the Itchen taking advantage of the river to grind the corn and transport the resulting flour to the town of Southampton to make bread. It was in the eighteenth century that wood became more important than corn for the little mill. Within the walls of the old medieval town a father and son, both called Walter Taylor, had a successful business making pumps and rigging blocks for ships. They had a workshop in Bugle Street and there they developed a method of mass producing the blocks using a horse gin to power their machinery. In 1754, they moved to Westgate Street.
The new blocks were cheaper, lighter and half the size of ordinary blocks, but just as effective. Hans Stanley, a Southampton MP and also a lord of the Admiralty, saw the potential in the mass produced blocks and arranged a trail with the Navy in 1761. This was so successful that the Navy agreed to order all their blocks from the Taylors in future. When Walter senior died in 1762, young Walter took out a patent for the machinery he and his father had developed.
After a fire in Portsmouth Dockyard destroyed most of the Navy’s supply of blocks in 1770, Walter had so many blocks to produce he set up a sawmill in Mayfield Park, using the water from Miller’s Pond and the stream running through the park. Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time will have seen my posts about the Butterfly Trail through Mayfield Park. The stream that runs through the park to the shore is barely more than a trickle at times and Walter soon discovered he needed a better mill.
In around 1781, Walter built a new block mill alongside the two existing corn mills at Woodmill. The Itchen provided a far better supply of water and more room to power some of the machinery with steam engines. In around 1825, a fire destroyed the buildings and this is when the current mill was built. Walter continued to be the sole supplier of blocks to the Navy until his death in 1803. The milling business was continued by his sons until 1810, after which the mill was used as a corn mill until the 1950’s.
So, with one last look at the damaged wall and a feeling of sadness, I turned to walk back along the river. As I walked I thought about all the history in the beautiful old mill and wondered if the young boys who’d come so close to destroying it had any idea of how important it had once been. I was glad that the building had been saved but very sad that three young boys had caused so much damage and chaos all for the sake of an afternoon of ‘fun.’
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Looking at the pictures, I think they boys are lucky to be alive. There must have been lots of bricks flying around and it’s a wonder that wall didn’t just collapse on them.
Was quite surprised they were able to run off.
As a schoolboy at Regents Park we occasionally had canoeing lessons at Woodmill, a place already familiar to me as, living in Portswood, I often went down to Woodmill on my bike. Living in Canada I have done much serious Kayaking on the lakes here and was often reminded of my first introductions to canoeing at Woodmill. I know information is easily obtainable these days but where the heck do you find these names, dates & interesting details?! You don’t have to answer that but do keep it up! Best regards.
My husband has enjoyed a few kayaking adventures at Woodmill. I prefer to stay dry and watch. As for the information, I’m naturally curious and collect snippets of things all the time from various places. I’m rubbish at remembering dates though (I have dyscalculia, a kind of dyslexia with numbers) so I always have to check the dates several times when I write posts.
What a shame the mill was damaged, but at least it’s still standing. Great post, Marie.
It was a wonder the joyriders weren’t badly hurt. They’re still working on putting it back together at the moment, there have been several lots of road closures. I must go back soon and have another look at the progress.
I doubt that those youngsters would care even if they knew the history and importance of the mill. To them it’s probably all just a big joke and as they’re unlikely to be punished they will go on their merry way causing havoc whenever the mood takes them.
I hope the repairs will be better than you think and when done the mill will look good again.
Sadly, I think you’re probably right. I will have to go back to the mill soon to see how things are progressing.
Hi Marie,
Thanks for posting this story.
I have many memories of Woodmill in the 1960’s. Towards the end of the sixties, it was used as an “adventure centre” where various activities could gather for canoeing, hiking etc. I attended on one freezing cold afternoon in February (it would have been 69 or maybe 1970) for some canoeing. It was the first time I’d been inside the building. I think it had been closed up for several years prior. Absolutely fascinating. I recall that some of the original equipment and workbenches was still there.
We launched our canoes onto the river and were told to keep clear of the outfall from under the mill and also the water coming out of the weir from Monks Brook. The instructor was shepherding us around the river back and forth in his Zodiac inflatable boat and for some unknown reason decided to “gun” his outboard motor and cut across my bow! His wake flipped me over, but unfortunately my canoe was not of the kind you could perform an Eskimo roll with! Not that I’d have much of a chance to do that anyway….as soon as I hit the water, it was so cold my first instinct was to gulp air down me…not recommended when you’re underwater! I’ve often thought of those poor people on Titanic. I now have first-hand knowledge of what it must have been like for them to hit near freezing water.
I’ve never forgotten that incident at Woodmill. Sorry to see it damaged. Luckily, it all looks restorable. As they say, the scars are now part of its history.
Cheers,
Rick
That’s an interesting story. It would have put me off for life. They have been working on repairing the mill for months now. I will have to go back soon and see how they’re doing.