Water mill

Great Island was an island (dims c. 2.5km N-S; c. 800m E-W at S to 1.8km E-W at N) in the N-S River Barrow/Nore, but the channel (Wth c. 500m-600m) on the NE and E sides has long silted up. A settlement developed that had the status of town (WX039-090----), which may have been at Loughtown on the W side of the island. The accounts for the manor of the Island survive for the 1280s and 1290s, in which the mill figures prominently. The mill was farmed or hired from the manor by Thomas Slyme, but in 1284 the mill was inundated by the river and it was repaired in 1286-7 at the cost of the manor. The structure required wattle walls and a new thatched roof of rushes. A new dam ’22 perches in length and 20 feet in width (L c. 110m; Wth c. 6m)’ was also constructed, which suggests that it may have been a tidal mill. The mill was an important installation and four locks were acquired to secure it (Hore 1900-11, vol. 3, 208, 210-17; Westropp 1918, 3). The mill was worth 5 marks (66 shillings and 8 pence) a year in 1306-07 (ibid. 219), but there is no further record of it. Elements of an early mill (WX039-091----) associated with the early monastery (WX039-018002-) are known from the E side of the island, but the precise location of this high medieval mill is not known at the moment. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 4 November 2021