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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Ifield Water Mill
| image = Ifield Mill 140523a.jpg
| caption = The mill from the northeast, May 2023
| locmapin = United Kingdom Crawley
| coordinates = {{coord|51.1136|-0.2225|region:GB_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| location = Hyde Drive, Ifield West, [[Crawley]], [[West Sussex]] RH11 0PL, [[United Kingdom]]
| built = 1817 (present building)
| built_for = Thomas Durrant
| architecture = [[Weatherboarding|Weatherboarded]] [[Vernacular architecture|Vernacular]]
| designation1 = Grade II
| designation1_offname = Ifield Water Mill
| designation1_date = 21 June 1948
| designation1_number = 1207630
}}

'''Ifield Water Mill''' is a 19th-century [[Weatherboarding|weatherboarded]] [[watermill]] in the [[Ifield, West Sussex|Ifield]] neighbourhood of [[Crawley]], a town and [[Borough status in the United Kingdom|borough]] in [[West Sussex]], [[England]]. Built on the site of an earlier, smaller flour mill, which itself replaced an iron [[forge]]—one of many in the Crawley area—it fell into disuse in the 1930s. The local council, which acquired the land for housing development in the 1970s, leased the mill to local enthusiasts, who restored it to working order. The mill and an associated house are [[Listed building|listed]] buildings, and there is also a cottage (not listed) on the site.

==History of the site==
The area around Ifield was originally thickly wooded, forming part of [[St Leonard's Forest]].<ref name="Bracher1">{{Harvnb|Bracher|1994|p=1.}}</ref> Small [[stream|brooks]] and tributaries of the [[River Mole]] run through the soil, which is an area of Weald [[clay]] between the sandier soil to the south and a narrow outcrop of [[limestone]] further north.<ref name="Survey2">{{Harvnb|Gibson-Hill|Henbery|1979|p=2.}}</ref> At least one mill had been established in the village by the 13th century, although this was further north.<ref name="VCH18407">{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/Sussex/vol6/pt3/pp63-67|title=A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 3 – Bramber Rape (North-Eastern Part) including Crawley New Town. Ifield – Economic History|editor-last=Hudson|editor-first=T. P. |year=1987|work=[[Victoria County History]] of Sussex|publisher=British History Online|pages=63–67|access-date=21 November 2013}}</ref> No records of its ownership survive, but [[tithe]] documents refer to it several times and it may have belonged to the Lord of the Manor.<ref name="Bracher1"/>

An iron forge existed on the site by the late 16th century. The Lord of the Manor owned the section of Ifield Brook (a tributary of the Mole) which ran from the [[Industrial furnace|furnace]] at nearby [[Bewbush]], {{convert|1|mi|km}} to the southwest.<ref name="Survey2"/><ref name="Bracher2">{{Harvnb|Bracher|1994|p=2.}}</ref> The brook was [[Mill dam|dammed]] in the 16th century<ref name="Survey4">{{Harvnb|Gibson-Hill|Henbery|1979|p=4.}}</ref> to form a [[mill pond]], which provided power for the forge. By 1606, "a house, barn, mill, mill pond and two [[Croft (land)|crofts]] of land known as Ifield Mill and Ifield Mill Pond"<ref group=note>Quoted in the [[deed]]s of the mill.</ref> had been established.<ref name="Bracher2"/> The Middletons, a rich local family who owned many ironworks across [[Sussex]], [[lease]]d the mill and its associated buildings. They were also tenants of the Bewbush furnace.<ref name="Bracher2"/><ref name="Bracher3">{{Harvnb|Bracher|1994|p=3.}}</ref>

The Sussex iron industry declined quickly in the mid-17th century. Bewbush furnace closed in 1642 because the area had been completely [[deforestation|deforested]] and there was no more wood to use for fuel; the following year, as the [[English Civil War]] raged, [[Roundhead|Parliamentarians]] overran the area and destroyed all remnants of the industry. The site of Ifield forge was cleared, and a corn mill was built in its place.<ref name="Bracher3"/> (At the time, the generic name "mill" was used to describe forges, and their operators were called "millers" or "farmers". This makes it difficult to determine exactly when the change happened.)<ref name="Bracher2"/> It was definitely operating by 1660, when a local [[Quaker]], William Garton, operated it. He was regularly imprisoned for his religious beliefs over the next 25 years, even though Ifield was a hotbed of [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformism]] (being the site of one of the first Quaker meeting houses in the world).<ref name="VCH18411">{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/Sussex/vol6/pt3/pp71-72|title=A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 3 – Bramber Rape (North-Eastern Part) including Crawley New Town. Ifield – Protestant Nonconformity|editor-last=Hudson|editor-first=T. P. |year=1987|work=[[Victoria County History]] of Sussex|publisher=British History Online|pages=71–72|access-date=21 November 2013}}</ref>

The mill was a small-scale operation at first, but as the milling process became more efficient it was able to expand. It was rebuilt in 1683.<ref name="Bracher4">{{Harvnb|Bracher|1994|p=4.}}</ref> The Middleton family owned the mill and its associated buildings outright by this time; another prosperous local businessman, Leonard Gale, bought it in 1715.<ref name="Survey4"/> By 1759 it had passed out of his family and began a 50-year period in which various combinations of partners owned it.<ref name="Bracher7">{{Harvnb|Bracher|1994|p=7.}}</ref> By this time it was the largest corn mill in the area; when [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] threatened to [[Napoleon's invasion of the United Kingdom|invade the United Kingdom]], a survey was undertaken to determine the output of all mills, which found that Ifield Mill could supply 16 sacks of flour and 120 loaves of bread each day. Other local mills could manage no more than four sacks per day.<ref name="Bracher8">{{Harvnb|Bracher|1994|p=8.}}</ref>

Despite its efficient output, the mill fell into disuse in the 1810s after London-based businessman [[Goldsmid family|Abraham Goldsmid]] bought it in 1809. It lay unused for eight years until Thomas Durrant, a miller from nearby [[Merstham]], bought it for £1,200 in 1817. Durrant was the first owner who also acted as miller, and under his ownership the mill was completely rebuilt.<ref name="Survey4"/><ref name="Bracher8"/>

==Reconstruction==
[[File:Ifield Brook.jpg|thumb|left|Ifield Brook as it flows into the mill pond]]
The 1683 building was demolished and the structure which stands today was built in its place. A decorative stone tablet with the date 1683 and the initials of Thomas Middleton and his wife Mary was salvaged and mounted on the exterior. (Middleton was the owner at the time of the 1683 rebuilding.)<ref name="Bracher4"/> Thomas Durrant spent £3,500 on construction. This money came from successful litigation against a group of miners whose actions damaged the water supply to his mill at Merstham and rendered it useless;<ref name="Bracher8"/> a similar problem started to affect the Ifield mill soon after it was rebuilt. The water supply began to fail as the brook's flow became weaker, and in 1848 the mill pond was cut in half by the building of the [[Arun Valley Line|railway line]] to [[Horsham]]. This originally crossed it on a bridge, but an [[Embankment (transportation)|embankment]] soon replaced it.<ref name="Bracher9">{{Harvnb|Bracher|1994|p=9.}}</ref> Also, in 1837, a competing [[windmill]] had been built near the centre of the village,<ref name="Bracher9"/><ref name="Survey7">{{Harvnb|Gibson-Hill|Henbery|1979|p=7.}}</ref> and two other millers were recorded in Ifield parish by 1821.<ref name="VCH18407"/> Gradual decline continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries; the mill passed through many owners, and even one long-established family of owner-millers, the Hardings, struggled. A steam engine driven by a [[waterwheel]] had been installed, but the engine often had to be worked manually because the water power was so feeble.<ref name="Bracher9"/> The mill was no longer in use by 1927,<ref name="Restoration1">{{Harvnb|Henbery|1996|p=1.}}</ref> and it was put up for sale with the adjacent Mill Cottage in 1934. Described as "a gentleman's residence with a picturesque disused water mill",<ref name="Bracher9"/><ref name="Survey7"/> it was clear that the mill's importance had ebbed away.

==Restoration==
[[File:Mill pond at Ifield Water Mill, Sussex.jpg|thumb|right|Looking south over the mill pond]]
The mill stood unused, apart from for storage, and nominally for sale until Crawley Borough Council used a [[compulsory purchase order]] to buy it in 1974.<ref name="Restoration1"/> The council was acquiring land on the edge of Ifield for housing.<ref name="Survey7"/> It allowed a group of volunteers to attempt to restore the mill, which was in poor structural condition. Work started on 15 June 1974.<ref name="Restoration1"/>

All parts of the structure were affected by the neglect and long period of disuse. Trees had invaded the building, dislodging the roof; the main timbers holding the building up were rotting and needed replacement; a retaining wall had collapsed inwards; and the water wheel, while still sound, was embedded in the mud. The work took eight years—much longer than the original estimate of three, although large donations of money paid for many interior fittings which had not been taken into account.<ref name="Restoration1"/> Three staircases, the board cladding on the inside walls and the wooden floors were all renewed, and all windows were refitted to their original design.<ref name="Restoration2">{{Harvnb|Henbery|1996|p=2.}}</ref><ref name="Restoration3">{{Harvnb|Henbery|1996|p=3.}}</ref> On the exterior, the weatherboarding was removed and a layer of waterproof cladding installed. Much of the boardwork had to be replaced, although the original appearance was preserved. The roof was also repaired inside and out to prevent it decaying any further.<ref name="Restoration2"/>

Replacing the load-bearing timbers and supports was particularly difficult. The whole building had to be lifted with [[Jack (device)#Hydraulic jack|hydraulic jacks]] and suspended aloft temporarily while new timbers were installed.<ref name="Restoration2"/> Work on the water wheel and its surrounding brick structure was also difficult and took several years. Parts of the wheel were salvaged and incorporated into the rebuilt oak and steel structure. The walls supporting it were totally rebuilt at the same time. A [[Sluice|sluice gate]] was built across the mill pond, and a flow control mechanism was brought in from the disused Hammonds Mill in [[Burgess Hill]], also in West Sussex.<ref name="Restoration3"/> The wheel is of the [[Water wheel#Overshot wheel|overshot]] type—the largest such wheel in Sussex<ref name="Survey7"/>—weighs around {{convert|6|LT|t ST}}, has a diameter of {{convert|11|ft|m}} and can rotate at between 8 and 15 revolutions per minute depending on water flow.<ref name="Restoration4">{{Harvnb|Henbery|1996|p=4.}}</ref>

Despite its scale and the difficulty of many of the tasks, the restoration was carried out almost entirely by volunteers working mostly at weekends. Some unemployed people enrolled in a [[job creation program]]me were briefly used, but no professional engineers, construction personnel or other qualified workers were employed at any time during the eight-year process.<ref name="Restoration4"/> The wooden parts of the waterwheel in this reconstruction rotted after about 30 years, so with some financial help from the [[Lottery Heritage Fund]] a new waterwheel was constructed in steel.

Efforts have been made to improve the ecological and wildlife balance of the mill pond and the surrounding area. The northern part of the pond had to be drained in 1976 during the reconstruction work, and trees started to become established in the bed;<ref name="Survey8">{{Harvnb|Gibson-Hill|Henbery|1979|p=8.}}</ref> the part south of the railway line, meanwhile, was described as a "virtual desert" ecologically. By 1979, however, it had been restocked with more than 30,000 fish,<ref name="Survey10">{{Harvnb|Gibson-Hill|Henbery|1979|p=10.}}</ref> and birds quickly became established again: a study recorded 58 species. The soil is considered to be of good quality, which improves the chances of suitable vegetation becoming established.<ref name="Survey8"/>

==Architecture==
Ifield Water Mill is a tall, externally weatherboarded structure of three storeys,<ref name="Pevsner207">{{Harvnb|Nairn|Pevsner|1965|p=207.}}</ref> consisting of a brick-built ground floor and two gabled upper floors of timber. The [[slate]] roof has [[eaves]] carried out beyond the walls on [[Bracket (architecture)|brackets]].<ref name="NHLE-1207630">{{NHLE|desc=Ifield Water Mill, Hyde Drive, Ifield|num=1207630|grade=II|access-date=21 November 2013}}</ref> The [[Hoist (device)|mill hoist]], whose surrounding timberwork and brickwork was found to be very badly corroded during the restoration,<ref name="Restoration2"/> projects from the north face.<ref name="NHLE-1207630"/>

==Current activities==
[[File:Ifield Mill House, Crawley (IoE Code 299491).jpg|thumb|right|Ifield Mill House]]
Ifield Water Mill was [[Listed building|listed]] at Grade II by [[English Heritage]] on 21 June 1948. It is one of 79 Grade II structures, and [[Listed buildings in Crawley|100 listed buildings of all grades]], in the Borough of Crawley.<ref name="CBC">{{cite web |url=http://www.crawley.gov.uk/pub_livx/groups/webcontent/documents/adviceguidance/int116583.pdf |format=PDF |title=Listed Buildings in Crawley |date=6 July 2011 |publisher=Crawley Borough Council |access-date=4 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610213156/http://www.crawley.gov.uk/pub_livx/groups/webcontent/documents/adviceguidance/int116583.pdf |archive-date=10 June 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Borough Council still own the building, but it is leased to Crawley Museum Society. Before Crawley Museum was established in Goffs Park in the [[Southgate, West Sussex|Southgate]] neighbourhood, a temporary museum and exhibition was housed in the mill.<ref name="Restoration4"/><ref name="Bracher10">{{Harvnb|Bracher|1994|p=10.}}</ref>

The mill house and cottage were also bought by the council as part of their land acquisition programme, and have been leased to private tenants since then.<ref name="Survey8"/> The mill house, a 16th-century [[Timber framing|half-timbered]] building with modern additions in brick, is now a [[public house]]. It has an original tiled [[Hip roof|hipped roof]], but much of the building was remodelled in the 20th century in the style of the old structure. It was [[Listed building|listed]] at Grade II on 1 May 1974.<ref name="NHLE-1180468">{{NHLE|desc=Ifield Mill House, Rusper Road, Ifield|num=1180468|grade=II|access-date=21 November 2013}}</ref> The cottage is not listed separately by [[English Heritage]]. It was built in the 16th or 17th century as a barn, but was converted to residential use in the 1930s.<ref name="Survey7"/>
[[File:Ifield Mill Stamp 2015.jpg|thumb|The painting of Ifield Mill by Denys Ovenden (circa 1848 - showing a Jenny Lind steam train crossing the wooden trellis viaduct across the millpond en route from Crawley to Horsham) was used to create a Royal Mail postage stamp.]]
An illustration of the water mill was painted by the artist, Denys Ovenden, in 2015 and shows a scene from 1848 when the railway between Crawley and Horsham crossed the millpond on a wooden trellis viaduct.<ref>{{cite web |date=28 January 2016 |title=Painting a picture of the history of Ifield Mill |url=https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/painting-a-picture-of-the-history-of-ifield-mill-2181169}}</ref> The painting subsequently appeared on a limited edition Royal Mail postage stamp.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Bracher|first=P.|title=Ifield Water Mill: its Owners and Occupiers|publisher=Crawley Museum Society|location=Crawley|year=1994|series=Publication Number 3}}
*{{cite book|last1=Gibson-Hill|first1=J.|last2=Henbery|first2=E.W.|title=Ifield Mill: a Survey|publisher=Crawley Museum Society|location=Crawley|year=1979}}
*{{cite book|last=Henbery|first=E.W.|title=Ifield Mill Restoration|publisher=Crawley Museum Society|location=Crawley|year=1996|edition=6th}}
*{{cite book|last1=Nairn|first1=Ian|author-link1=Ian Nairn|last2=Pevsner|first2=Nikolaus|author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner|title=The Buildings of England: Sussex|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|location=Harmondsworth|year=1965|isbn=0-14-071028-0}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*{{official website|http://www.crawleymuseums.org/watermill/}}

{{Crawley}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Crawley]]
[[Category:Industrial buildings completed in 1817]]
[[Category:Grade II listed buildings in West Sussex]]
[[Category:Watermills in West Sussex]]
[[Category:Museums in West Sussex]]
[[Category:Mill museums in England]]

Ifield Water Mill - Revision history

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