150, Page 3


Page 3	Newsletter 150 Autumn 2025 � Hampshire Mills Group

What was HMG?

Keith Andrews

As you will have heard, and as the resolutions listed for the upcoming AGM indicate, the committee are proposing that Hampshire Mills Group should be closed down; with the aging membership and lack of volunteers, there would seem to be no other practical alternative.

HMG was formed over 40 years ago in 1982 by John Silman, Gavin Bowie, Michael Inge, Dave Plunkett, John Reynolds, Bruce Tappenden, Kevin Stubbs, and others as a spin-off from the Southampton University Industrial Archaeology Group (SUIAG), now Hampshire Industrial Archaeological Society (HIAS), to concentrate on, as the objects state when it became a charity in 2006:

The preservation and restoration for the public benefit of windmills and watermills (in particular but not exclusively in Hampshire) which are deemed worthy of preservation and restoration and are of particular historical or architectural interest, and to advance the education of the public in windmills, watermills, and milling.

rather than IA in general. In simpler terms, its aims were to support mill conservation and to establish a body of knowledge and practical expertise about mills and mill history.

The group grew from just SUIAG members to include mill owners � both of working mills and former mills � and other enthusiasts specifically interested in mills of all types. The group was led for a long time by John Silman as chairman; he was followed by Mick Edgeworth, Andy Fish, and now Ashok Vaidya. Alison Stott was the secretary, a post she held for 35 years.

There was a quarterly newsletter, with information about events and activities and mills; this, number 150, is the last. Mary Yoward was the editor for the first 61 issues, then Ros Plunkett, Sheila Viner, and lastly Ruth Andrews.

Also, meetings were held quarterly, most often for many years at various mills where the mill and its machinery could be inspected, but latterly they have more generally been at village halls and such like, with a speaker. The December meeting was always a �party�; the American suppers (where everybody bought something that they had cooked, or baked, or prepared) of earlier years were memorable, but the offerings gradually declined until one year it was almost exclusively shop-bought sausage rolls (!), after which it was changed to having bought-in party food.

Top: Barbecue at Pilcot Mill

Bottom: Meeting at Botley Mill

In response to requests from mill owners for information about maintaining their mills, the group developed and provided expertise and information, and gained recognition by local councils and similar bodies as experts for consultation. They also engaged in actual milling for flour for sale at Longbridge Mill and also Eling, and taught people how to mill.

It didn't stop at that, though; a set of the active members (the �heavy gang�) became involved in repairs and maintenance and other practical things needed at a wide range of mills and other water-related sites. These included Botley Mills, Brambridge House pump, Chase Mill, Cheriton Mill, Crux Easton wind engine, Hockley Mill, Headley Mill, Longbridge Mill, Longparish upper Mill, Shawford Mill, Slipper Mill sluice, Timsbury water pump, and Wherwell Mill amongst others. Several of these involved many months of work. For insurance purposes this had to be done under the auspices of SUIAG/HIAS. With increasing age and some deaths of members of the heavy gang, such activity stopped some while ago.

Reassembling the windwheel at Crux Easton

Dismantling a roller mill at Botley Mills

Replacing a millstone at Chase Mill

Installing a steel beam at Headley Mill

Renewing the weed screen at Wherwell Mill

SUIAG had published a gazetteer Water and Wind Mills in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in 1978. As a millennium project in 2000 HMG visited and photographed all the mills listed there to record their current condition. Then in 2011 HMG published under the editorship of Ashok Vaidya a much expanded gazetteer with more history and names of millers over the centuries in addition to the details of the mills; this was the 3-volume The Mills and Millers of Hampshire. It was extensively based on the vast research and information collected by Tony and Mary Yoward together with reports from many HMG members about the current status and details of the mills.

The Mills and Millers of Hampshire

Display at Hampshire Record Office

Hockley Mill Open Day

HMG would have a stall selling books and displaying information about HMG at various heritage events, like the annual Hampshire Water Festival, and displays were mounted at other places such as Hampshire Record Office. Open days were held at Hockley Mill on National Mills Weekend in May and Heritage Open Days in September.

In addition to visits to particular mills and places of milling interest beyond Hampshire, in many years there were lengthier study tours further afield to Dorset, Essex, Cambridgeshire, North and South Wales, East Midlands, and so on, and abroad twice to the Vend�e and Limousin areas of France, and to the Netherlands.

Sacrewell Mill, Lincolnshire study tour

Melin Llynnon Windmill, Anglesey study tour

Visit to Wessex Mills, Wantage

Visit to Warminster Maltings

HMG liaised with and supported local bodies like Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust and national ones like Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (Mills Section) and more recently since its formation Mills Archive Trust (MAT). HMG�s research and archive material will be deposited with MAT. As well as the Yoward�s research information this includes the large selection of photos of mills taken by Arthur Lowe (not the actor!) while cycling around Hampshire; see article in newsletter 114, autumn 2016.

Fullerton Mill and Titchfield Mill � A Lowe

This brief survey of what HMG was merely highlights its numerous activities, particularly the extensive work done at mills, which could fill may pages. In conclusion, it can be said that it was a successful, influential, and effective organisation, and it is regrettable that it probably cannot continue.

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