NO TROUBLE AT THE MILL...

Continued...

In many ways, Park Mill Pond is the most interesting of the five lakes, and the clue is in the name. A map of Woodchester Park from 1782 by William Spyers (an understudy to 'Capability' Brown who agreed to landscape the gardens of Woodchester in the same year) displayed two buildings located at the eastern end of the pond. These were further detailed as an 'L' shaped building in a map drawn in 1790. Furthermore, an engraving of 1809 by W. Hawkin from the entrance to Woodchester Park showed a three-storey building matching the location of the Mill. Finally, a Tithe map of 1838 showed a more complex structure at the site of the Mill, suggesting a complete rebuilding of the Mill at some point after 1790. Documents record that the Mill ceased working in 1870 and the first Ordnance Survey map of 1883 showed no structures of any kind, suggesting it had been demolished by this time.

The task set by the National Trust for us was to compile as much information regarding the site of the Mill prior to and during construction works for the new spillway. This was completed by piecing together information from a number of different sources including historical maps and known documentary records relating to Woodchester and then through field investigation. The latter occurred in four separate phases of work; an earthwork survey (February 2007), a geophysical survey (undertaken on behalf of CA by Archaeological Surveys in March), excavation of a series of evaluation trenches (April and May) and an archaeological Watching Brief during the actual construction works (May and June).