Open House Festival

House Mill

industrial, gallery

Unknown, 1776

Three Mill Lane, Bromley by Bow , E3 3DU

The World’s largest tidal mill. 5-storey, timber-framed, brick-clad timber watermill with four waterwheels, originally built 1776 to mill grain for distillery trade. Operational until 1940. On historic 3 Mills Site, Clock Mill adjacent.

Getting there

Tube

Bromley By Bow

Bus

488, 323, D8, 25

Additional travel info

Underground: Bromley-by-Bow, then a 5-minute walk. DLR: The nearest DLR stations areAbbey Road, Bow Church, Devon's Road, Pudding Mill Lane and Stratford High Street, and all are a 10-minute walk away. Bus: Bus routes 108 and 488 stop outside Tesco, Three Mill Lane – a 3-minute walk away. Routes 25, 276 and 425 stop at Stratford High Street Bow Flyover – a 5-minute walk

Access

Facilities

About

History

The House Mill was built in 1776 by Daniel Bisson, on the site of an earlier mill and between two houses occupied by the miller and his family, hence its name. The Clock Mill opposite was rebuilt in 1817. There was also a third mill, a windmill, which survived until about 1840. The House Mill continued to operate until 1941 and the Clock Mill until 1952.

Restoration

In 1989 work began on the House Mill and the fabric of the Mill has been fully restored. As part of the work to restore the site, the Miller’s House, which had been demolished in the late 1950s, was reconstructed in 1993/4. The façade was rebuilt to the 1763 design with reused 18th century bricks. Using many of the original materials recovered from the bombed site, the ground floor of the Miller’s House has been reconstructed as original, whilst the rest of the building is a new structure.

The Miller’s House provides a visitor, information, and education centre, with meeting rooms for hire and a small cafe. It was funded by the European Union. In 1996 it won a Civic Trust Commendation for outstanding architecture.

The garden was laid out to include a combination of design suggestions by pupils of Sarah Bonnell School, and includes original kitchen garden plants and a herb garden.

Online presence

housemill.org.uk

Nearby

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