The Town Mill

 

A working watermill
 in the heart of
Lyme Regis

 

 

Open throughout the Year

 
A ten-year restoration project to rescue this ancient but derelict watermill in the heart of Lyme Regis was completed in 2001. The volunteer-run Town Mill is now back in full working order and open to visitors throughout the year.
 
In addition to the watermill, the complex houses art galleries, a café/restaurant, craft studios and workshops, a bakery, a mill shop and the Miller's garden.
The Mill Site and its Attractions

Step back in time as you wander through the complex, where a mill has existed since medieval times and the corn milling machinery is Victorian. Start, perhaps, in the working watermill. Watch the waterwheel turn as it drives the millstones to produce our stone-ground wholemeal flour from local organic wheat. Then, return to the mill shop for a bag of our flour, or some fine toys, books, or local produce. Something is sure to catch your eye.

Stroll through the Miller's Garden, then admire the current exhibition in the Mill Art Galleries, before perhaps enjoying a cappuccino, glass of wine or some food in Café Clémence, the mill’s brasserie.

Next, take some time to visit the on-site craft studios - ‘on the edge’ for picture framing and the Attic Gallery for paintings. Or drop in to the Town Mill Pottery to watch earthenware and stoneware table pieces being thrown and fired. Before you go, why not visit our Bakery for a wide range of continental breads, pastries, and cakes?

If you are based in the locality, why not take advantage of a wide range of courses available at the mill – long and short art courses, pottery evening classes and more general courses.
 
Opening Hours

Although the various attractions at the mill are open throughout the year, opening hours vary with the seasons. In addition, the Art Galleries open only when an exhibition is being staged.
Admission Charges

Admission to the mill site and entry to the art galleries, craft studios, the pottery, mill shop and the Miller's garden is free. However, there is a charge for the tour of the working watermill.

A Brief History

The first clear evidence of a town mill in Lyme dates from 1340, when King Edward III granted the burghers of Lyme a licence to build a new watermill on the present site. But William the Conqueror's Domesday Book records a mill in Lyme in 1086, so the site could be a thousand years old.

In 1644, during the Civil War, the Town Mill was severely damaged. After the war, the mill was rebuilt and much of the stone structure you see today dates from this 1648 rebuilding.

From the Middle Ages the mill was powered by two overshot waterwheels on the outside of the north wall, with each wheel driving one set of stones. However, following improvements in milling technology, a much larger breastshot wheel was installed in the mid 1700s and this wheel drove two sets of stones. This wheel was itself replaced, around 1797, by a more powerful overshot wheel installed inside the mill building, in the position of the wheel you can see today.

 
 

The Mill closed in 1926, defeated by a new milling technology – steam driven steel-roller milling. Sadly, the waterwheel was removed in 1936 and by the 1970s the mill was derelict.

In 1991 West Dorset District Council announced plans to redevelop the site. Local volunteers then launched a rescue campaign. Their ten-year, award-winning restoration project has resulted in the fully working watermill you can visit today.