Woodbridge Tide Mill

Woodbridge Tide Mill in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England is a rare example of a tide mill whose water wheel still turns.

The mill has been preserved and is open to the public, its machinery reflects the skills and achievements of the early Industrial Revolution. The mill is a three storey building constructed from wood. Externally it is clad in white Suffolk boarding and has a Gambrel roof. The reservoir constructed for demonstration purposes is roughly half an acre in extent, the original convert|7|acre|m2|sing=on one is now a marina. It is a Grade I listed building.

History

The first recording of a tide mill on this site was in 1170; it is unknown how many mills have stood here. The mill, which was operated by the local Augustinian priory in the Middle Ages, was acquired by Henry VIII at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.

By the outbreak of World War II the mill was one of the few still operating. In 1957 it closed as the last commercially operating tide mill in Britain. In 1968 the derelict mill was purchased by Mrs Jean Gardner and a restoration programme was launched. It was opened to the public five years later in 1973.

ee also

* Watermills in the United Kingdom
* Eling Tide Mill

External links

* [http://www.tidemill.org.uk Woodbridge Tide Mill]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/TM2748 Page at geograph] with several images of the mill
*