There is much to see on the ground floor. The machinery is safely behind glass - for the protection of the visitors, of course. When the mill was working it was mainly boarded up.
Look through the glass and see where the wallower and the pit wheel mesh. The wallower is cast iron and the pitwheel cast iron with wooden cogs. Here's a photo showing the two wheels. The horizontal drive is converted to the vertical.
There is much more to see through the glass! Look up and admire the Great Spur Wheel, the first wheel on the upright shaft. It is a cast iron monster and it meshes with four smaller stone nuts in the corners of the machinery bay. They are connected to the stones on the first floor.
You may also see the automatic tentering gear which controlled the gap between the stones. Here the miller stood behind the sacks as they filled with flour. He controlled the quality of that floor by altering the gap between the stones with his own tentering lever. He also controlled the rate at which the corn entered the stones with his twist peg. The same principle applies at Buttrum's Mill, as at nearly all corn-grinding mills.
At the base of the stairs is the vital gear to raise or lower the mill pond gates, starting or stopping the mill.
You must walk into the riverside outhouse, originally an office or extra work-space. The views down the river are magnificent. There are two views - tide in and tide out! Glance carefully at the mill race and you may even spot a kingfisher looking for an eel supper!
The Mills section of this website is Copyright © 1999 Mike Weaver & Robert Cawley.
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