Members arrived from midday onwards
and met in the spacious first floor of the mill
overlooking Ashlett Creek. A variety of good
food and drink was available and we had a sociable
time before moving to the upper floor for the
meeting at 2 p.m. About 25 members were present,
some having travelled long distances to reach
Ashlett.
Mick Edgeworth welcomed us all and
said that the main task at the moment was the
completion of the second mills book. He then
handed over to Ashok Vaidya who said that 97 mills
have been visited and the information updated; there
are only three more to do so that the total number
of mills will be about 100, all of them with
significant history and information. There are
also another 24 where we know something but not a
lot – these will appear in the back of the book.
The cover has been designed and the maps done and it
is just about ready for publication. The first book
had 72 mills, so this one is bigger.
Book three – the final one - will
cover mills in the north and east part of
Hampshire. Volunteers are again needed; John Silman
said that local history groups are often a mine of
information. Sheila Viner went to the BBC’s ”Who
do you think you are?” family history event at
Olympia, courtesy of Devon Family History Society.
She spoke to members of Hampshire Family History
Society on their stand who expressed keen interest
in both the new series of our books and in obtaining
a list of HMG speakers who would be willing to give
presentations to the various regional groups
throughout the county. They acknowledged that John
Silman has spoken to a couple of groups, but, there
are many more who would enjoy learning about our
milling industries.
We will once
again be having a stand at the Water Festival which
is on 14th and 15th July at
Staunton Park and again in the marquee. Volunteers
to man the stand will be needed.
Dave Plunkett
said that the exhibition “Tide Mills of Western
Europe” is in the U.K. this year, at Totton Civic
Centre and then at House Mill in London. He would
like some help from members.
Dave Plunkett
then gave a very interesting talk on local mills;
first, he introduced Tim Woodcock who lives at
Ashlett Mill and is a photographer for the Beaulieu
Estate. Tim is researching local history and said
that the mill at Ashlett was first mentioned in
1816, having four pairs of stones milling grain from
Fareham and Portsmouth which was brought up the
creek. It has contained no machinery since 1910.
Dave then went on to give his illustrated talk –
over a number of years he has gathered information
and taken photographs of a number of mills and/or
sites in this area.
Very many
thanks to Dave for organising this very interesting
and enjoyable meeting.
