Ansells Snuff Mill, Carshalton

There were at the end of the 19th century at least four mills on the river Wandle in Carshalton, making a whole variety of products from drugs to gunpowder. Ansells was a snuff mill at the end of Butter Hill and had (unusually - or is it fairly typical of this sort of mill ??) a double water wheel, as you can see in this photo from the 1890's


Whats left of the mill are the wheel pits and the lock mechanism that sat behind them (I don't know very much about the way these worked so if anyone would like to shed light on this it would be great) which I think is contemporary to the water wheels, but may not be.







The mill building is still standing - it now houses a graphic design company - and some of the pebbledashing has fallen away to reveal the original brickwork and what seem to be
the original bore holes where the wheels were fixed



Lots of interesting wildlife round here (its just up the road from the Wilderness Island Nature reserve). On the day I was here there were lots of Grey Wagtails. And like the sign says, the water is very deep - but then it would have to be to take those two big wheels!



Enjoy!!
GDZ

godzilla73 said:

(unusually - or is it fairly typical of this sort of mill ??) a double water wheel, as you can see in this photo from the 1890's

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It makes sense to use both sides of the river bank using the same head of water. Two mills means twice as much work done of the same amount of water flow.

the lock gate would have been used to stop water flow over the wheels while the mill wasnt in use to put a brake on the machinery

godzilla73 said:

...which I think is contemporary to the water wheels...

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I'd say so too, as there'd be no need for it without the wheels, and it looks pretty much the same as in the old photo.
Nice find and research, GDZ. Love the Grey Wagtail too.