I'm new to this Forum and am, like many peolpe, searching for lost and tangled roots.


Is there anyone who can give me some guidance on the history of the mill at Brent Pelham. I have read that the existing mill was built in the mid 1820s. On the 1841 census there is a Peter Harris and family living at the mill. He had previously been a miller at Takeley Essex. I have Harris ancestors who were born in Takeley at about the time that Peter was living there.


Any other Harris descendants out there?


Michael Harris

This Mill was built in 1828 by William Halden of Brent Pelham Hall. It apparently replaced the old one which stood on the mound past Cole Green Farm. This mound is sometimes marked on maps as a castle mound. Prehaps in it`s time it was both.
The present mill was built on top of the old Roman road from London to Norfolk. It was not well sited for catching the wind, the old site being much better and in the latter years of the 19th century consideration was given to providing an auxiliary steam engine for days with little wind. I don`t think that this was ever done. I suspect that the tenants had problems making the business viable.
I cannot say when the mill ceased to operate as a mill. There were a succesion of owners, Haldens, Hallams, Heygates and since 1865 Barclays. Somewhere there should be a list of millers but I cannot find it. It may have gone with a lot of other papers to the County record office in Hertford. I am told they are very hepful.
The mill still exists because in 1896 the area was converted into kennels for the Puckeridge Foxhounds. The mill itself was converted into a feed store with the top floor used as a water tower. The water came from the spring pond some 50 yards away and was pumped up, initially, by a separate wind pump. This soon had to be augmented by, and then replaced by a petrol engine. The tower was encased in corragated iron which has helped to keep the rot out.
The mill house remains, just to the East of the mill. Apart from now having electricity and mains water and that sort of thing it remains unchanged since the mid 19th century.
The mill must have been very strongly built not only to survive the increased weight in holding up a thousand gallons or so of water but it also withstood being run into by an aeroplane. In 1938 Sgt. Wardle R.A.F. flying at night from Debden in, I think, a Gloster Gauntlet biplane crashed into the top of the now water tower and ended up on the road bank opposite. Sadly Sgt. Wardle did not survive. After this incident it ceased to be a water tower as large holes had appeared in the tank.
All the machinery seems to have been removed in 1898. I thought that I had some of the millstones at Beaches but on investigation these turn out to be the ones from the Patmore heath mill.
I regret that I cannot help with the Harris research although I seem to remember that a Harris was miller in 1865. I wasn`t actually about at the time. There is a long standing Harris family still about in these parts but I cannot say whether they are related to the millers.
Compared to most windmills this one is in pretty good condition.
Good luck with the research.

Ted.