Old Bridge At Stream Mill

Heritage listing

Details CHIDDINGLY 981/0/10054 Old Bridge at Stream Mill 26-SEP-05 GV II Single span bridge, probably of late C18 or early C19 date, with some later repair. Ashlar blocks, buttressed with brick repair and stone infill. Deck of slag. DESCRIPTION: The keystone and arch is of ashlar. Parapet of wooden posts. Brick buttresses of probable early C19 type bonding. The deck of the bridge is of slag with stone protruding from the surface. Spillway on south side constructed of stone and brick. The bridge is closely associated with the operation of the nearby mill, and has the grooves of a sluice gate on the stone blocks of its north side, by which it regulated the water flow from the mill pond. The track over the bridge is the major bridle way through the village with links to the Weald and the Vanguard Way. HISTORY: The bridge is closely associated with a mill which lies about 100m to its south east. On the north side of the bridge supports are the slots for sluice gates to control the flow of water from the mill pond, showing that the bridge dates at least from the time of the working mill. The mill, in turn, is associated with iron working on the site. It is first mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and iron working on the site dates from C15, when it was controlled by the Elphic family who were listed in documentary sources as 'iron masters'. In the mid 1500s the iron works passed to the French family, who were also 'iron masters', and is again mentioned in early C17 in the ownership of James Lullham. Canon boring took place in the Tudor period south of the bay near the mill. The mill was originally a hammer mill for the iron works, but by the early 1800s the iron working had ceased, and the mill became a corn mill. SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: The bridge is significant as a well prese

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.