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
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