There is documented evidence of a mill in Woodnewton dating back nearly 1000 years ago, and it is probable that one existed even before then. Subsequently, a second mill operated in the village, and possibly a third, although the evidence for a third mill is less secure. All were water mills however, situated at different points along the banks of the Willow Brook in the village.
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Woodnewton had a mill in 1066. In 1086 it had a taxable value of 64 pence and was one of 14 such mills in the Wilibroc Hundred. In 1066 Norman was the (Danish) Lord of the Manor whereas after the Conquest the Tenant-in-Chief was Eustace the Sheriff of Huntingdon and Reginald was the Lord.
Figure 1. Woodnewton (Niwetone) in the Domesday Book
At that time Woodnewton was centred around the junctions of what are now Main Street, Nassington Road, Pound Lane and Oundle Road at the eastern end of the present village. It is believed that the mill was situated to the south of that junction where the road to Southwick and Oundle crossed the Willow Brook at a ford. All mills recorded in the Domesday Book were water-powered grist mills used to grind corn for flour and animal feed. Wind-powered mills did not appear in this country until the late 12th/early 13th Century.
By 1195 Richard D’Engayne of Castle Hymel at Laxton held land in Woodnewton, and he founded Fineshade Priory there in the early 1200s. In 1260 Henry D’Engayne (Richard’s grandson) gave part of the manor at Woodnewton frankalmoign to the Priory of Fineshade. Under the terms of the gift the land was held free from military service on condition that the monks/friars held masses for the souls of the D’Engayne family. The land was held by the Priory until the Dissolution of the (smaller) Monasteries in 1536. At some point during this period the monks/friars built a manor house at Woodnewton in Conegar Field opposite the Church.
It is known that Richard D’Engayne also gave the Priory half the mill that he held at Woodnewton and that in 1344 Richard Knyvet of Southwick donated the other half. Priory records show that in 1481 Richard Lanley rented 8 acres of land and a “firma mill” from the Priory. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a miller called John Marshall rented land with a watermill at Woodnewton from the Priory.
British History Online has two references to there being two mills at Woodnewton, one at the east end and one at the west ends of the village. The first reference is dated 1574 and refers to a survey undertaken at the time the land formerly belonging to Fineshade Priory, and all the other land in Woodnewton, was being incorporated into the Apethorpe Estate by the Mildmay family. This estate eventually passed through marriage to Sir Francis Fane who subsequently became the Earl of Westmorland.
A map of 1640 showing the boundaries of Cliffe Bailiwick (Rockingham Forest) identifies two buildings on the banks of the Willow Brook in Woodnewton: one at Conegar and one at the Oundle Road ford. It is believed that a watermill was built at Conegar sometime between 1260 and 1574, but the details of by whom and why have yet to be discovered. Based on current information, it is assumed that this mill was built by the Priory to either replace the earlier (eastern) mill or to be closer to the site of their manor house at Conegar. This may be the mill rented by Richard Lanley in 1481 and John Marshall in 1535. (John Marshall is recorded as still renting this mill in 1551). The mill at the eastern end of the village was the original Domesday Book mill which was restored and rebuilt over the centuries by the other landowners in the village.
The second reference is dated 1706 and records that the 6th Earl of Westmorland leased two mills in Woodnewton to Robert Hale of Fotheringhay. The lease started on Lady Day (25th March) 1707 for a term of 21 years. Theses mills had formerly been leased to Guy Cope, who had died. The fee was £20 per year paid on Lady Day plus two fattened pullets or fattened hens and 20 eggs every Christmas. The Earl was responsible for the maintenance of the buildings and the water works, while Robert Hale had to pay the annual rent and for all the operational costs of running the mills.
Documents from the Westmorland Archive record that in 1708 the Earl paid masons for “Building ye mill house at Newton”. This was close or adjacent to the existing mill at the western end of the village but was a separate building.
In 1735 the Earl had plans drawn for a new bridge at Woodnewton to cross the Willow Brook at the ford on the Oundle Road. Those plans also show the location of what was called the Nether (Lower) Mill at the eastern end of the village. The mill is shown as a free-standing building with no adjacent mill house and is believed to be the successor of the original Domesday Book mill. However, the 6th Earl died in 1736 and the new bridge was never built.
The Nether Mill is the building shown at the top of the Plan and the proposed new bridge, to be built on two piers, is at the bottom The main channel of the Willow Brook flows from top right to the bottom. To the left of the Nether Mill is a channel called the “Back Water.” The road to Oundle runs over the proposed new bridge from top right to bottom left. The area in the middle is the ford which was the only way to cross the Willow Brook at that time. The mill building shows the water wheel used to provide the power to drive the machinery.
In the 1730s the mill at Conegar was demolished and the Earl had a new mill built adjacent to the mill house built in 1708. The door jambs are inscribed with dates including 1732, 1733 and 1737. Repairs were also made to the decaying water supply system. The new mill was completed by 1740 by the 7th Earl of Westmorland. It is known that the structure seen today was originally two buildings, the mill and the mill house and it is this mill that continued to operate, with the miller living in the mill house, for the next 170 years or so. Fig 3 shows the mill and mill house as they were in about 1915. The Nether Mill at the eastern end of the village was demolished soon after the completion of the new mill at Conegar and does not appear on the 1778 Enclosure Map.
Figure 3: Conegar Mill built in the 1730s showing the water
wheel and adjoining mill house.
Robert Hale of Fotheringhay was the tenant of the mill at Conegar in the early 1700s, and records suggest that his descendants continued as tenants throughout that century. The Tithe records of 1778 show that another Robert Hale was the tenant of the mill and house at Conegar, and the land on which the Nether Mill once stood, along with other property in the village. However, at the time of the 1841 Census, Joseph Needham is registered at Conegar Mill. He is recorded as still being at the mill until he died in 1860, when his family moved to another property in the village.
James Chowns became the next miller and was living with his family at the mill when the 1871 census was taken. However, he had left the property by 1881 as John Gest was the name of the miller in that census.
Sydney Spademan, who was the last miller, arrived sometime during 1890 from Kings Cliffe, and worked at the mill until 1906. When he gave up milling he converted the land to a market gardening enterprise, which he continued until his retirement.
Figure 4:The Willow Brook at Conegar Mill. The first picture shows the ford in front of the mill. The second shows the Willow Brook after the new bridge was erected in 1934. This bridge replaced the original wooden foot bridge.
In 1936, before the next tenant, Alfred Whittaker, took up residency, Lord Brassey (who had bought the Apethorpe Estate in 1904) converted the mill and mill house into one unit and turned the building into a farmhouse. A range of farm buildings was also built and in total this farm comprised 278 acres of arable and pasture land. It was known as Conegar Farm. Alfred Whittaker farmed the land until his death in 1972. The land was then incorporated into the wider Apethorpe Estate and the farmhouse sold as a residential unit. The present owner moved into the house in 1975 and purchased the property from Lord Brassey five years later. The northwest elevation of the building was extended in 1983 and more recently a further extension to the southeast was completed in 2001. It is now known as Conegar Farm House. The farm buildings were converted subsequently to residential use and named Conegar Farm (Building).
Even though only one building survives, the history of the two flour mills that once served the village and surrounding areas is known in general terms. However, it is possible that there once was a third mill at Woodnewton, even though the evidence for its existence is limited. The map of Cliffe Bailiwick referred to earlier, identifies an area of land a short distance downstream of the ford at Woodnewton, which is called “Walk Mill Close.” The name is maintained on the 1778 Enclosure Map, but neither map shows any buildings on the land.
Although highly stylised, Main Street is clearly identifiable on the 1640 map with St Mary’s Church to the left and its junction with Nassington Road, Pound Lane and Oundle Road to the right. The Nether Mill is shown on the Willow Brook to the south of this junction. Conegar Mill is less easily identified but is located on the Willow Brook to the south of the Church and the gatehouse of the Priory manor house.
Figure 5: 1640 Map of the Cliffe Bailiwick showing the two flour mills and “Walk Mill Close” downstream of the village.
“Walk Mill Close” has been confirmed as indicating the presence of a fulling mill, but these two maps are the only “clues” to the existence of such a mill in Woodnewton. Fulling is the process of cleaning and thickening fleeces for making into cloth. This process was originally undertaken by hand, and it was not until the 13th century that fulling mills appeared in this country. The invention of mechanical fulling using waterpower was introduced into Britain by religious orders (from France) and turned the country into a major cloth making region in the 14th Century. Fulling mills were known as “walk (waulk) mills” in the north and “tuck mills” in the southwest.
As the name appears on the map of 1640 it can be assumed that, if it existed, it did so before that date. However, no record has (yet) been discovered of such a mill in the Westmorland Archive. Nor has any reference to a fulling mill been found in the limited information there is on Fineshade Priory, but many of those records may have been destroyed in a fire at the Priory in the 1430s.
In addition to its name, its location downstream of the village suggests that Walk Mill Close may have been the site of a medieval fulling mill. Fulling was a dirty job leading to the pollution of water sources, so the siting of a fulling mill downstream of the village would be logical. Also, from the 1260s the manor of Woodnewton was in the possession of Fineshade Priory – a religious order. The course of the Willow Brook through Walk Mill Close appears to have been diverted and cuts the enclosure into two pieces. This could have been a leet to provide the flow of water, and hence the power required to drive a fulling mill, which has subsequently become the main channel of the river.
Further research is ongoing given the importance of cloth making to the medieval economy. One possibility however is that the reference to a “Firma Mill” in 1481 in the Priory records refers to a fulling mill and not a flour mill, and that mill was located in Walk Mill Close.