Bolingbroke House Mills

Battersea, London

1788 Advertisement (retaining the spelling 'Bolinbroke': 'To be SOLD by private Contract, (by MR. WILLOCK) - A Capital STEAM ENGINE, made by CAMERON and Co. of London, with power equal to fifteen Horses; the Cylinder thirty inches diameter; a Copper Boiler, eight feet by eight feet six inches; Iron Fly seventeen feet, weight about four tons and a half; with Pipes, Pumps, and Cisterns compleat. The Frame Oak, as good as new, lately used in an Oil Mill, To be seen Bolinbroke House, Battersea. THREE MILES FROM LONDON; and further particulars, and price, may be known of Mr Willock, in Golden Square: London.

Note: No other information has been found about this engine, and it is assumed that it was used at the Bolingbroke House site referred to below, and it is further assumed that the oil in question is from linseed.

A 'Horizontal Air-Mill' was constructed for a Mr Fowler ('a colourman in Piccadilly') for grinding linseed. By 1804 the mill was being used to grind malt for Bolingbroke House Distillery. The design of the air-mill was taken from that of a smaller one built in Margate by Captain Stephen Hooper. The height from the foundation was 145 feet, and the diameter was 45 ft at the top and 54 ft at the bottom. On the outside were 96 Venetian blind shutters, 80 ft high and 9 ft broad. The vertical shaft carried 96 sails, of the same height as the shutters.. Additional information: 'The mill was built by Thomas Fowler to Stephen Hooper's design. It worked by wind until 1825, when the windmill was dismantled, leaving the substructure, which was used for milling as late as 1882. The management of the mill changed from Hodgson to James and Thomas Dives, probably coincident with the change from wind to steam power, which occurred before 1833.'

Four of the six pairs of grindstones were retained when the mill was demolished. These were installed in the flour mill which was built on the site and run by Messrs. Dives, later Mayhew and Dives. The firm became Mark Mayhew Ltd., and became the property of Rowland Rank in 1914. The drive to the stones was from an internal gear on the rim of the flywheel and, when the plant was remodeled, four pairs of stones, with new parts added, were installed on the provender plant of the new mill. The 6" square cast iron layshaft was turned down at the end to accommodate a silent chain drive and clutch, retaining the old shaft and gears with their applewood cogs, and remained in use until the plant was dismantled after World War II.

The imposing spectacle presented by the 'horizontal mill' is conveyed in contemporary illustrations . The mill was featured in sketches and paintings by John Constable.

1827 'The village of Battersea itself may be said to be almost in its primitive state. The attention of the stranger was principally directed to the horizontal mill, which formed a pretty object from the River Thames ; but this is pulling down, and it is nearly dismantled : with this exception there is no place near London where so few alterations or improvements have been made.'

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