Darenth mill was sited down the end of today’s Mill Street at the east-end of town. Unlike Elm View mill at the west-end, Darenth mill was of wooden construction, of which there are very few photographs in existence. This photograph shows that the wheel was of the ‘overshot’ variety which meant that the wheel could ...
Reference: WH1124
This photograph taken in the mid 1950s shows Elm View Mill in a bad state of repair. The notice above the door states ‘The public are warned not to approach this mill as the structure is in a highly dangerous condition’. Most of the joists of the upper floor and the roof timbers had rotted ...
Reference: WH1125
At this point, around the 1890s, the mill had been decommissioned and turned into a pumping station to pump water from a deep well in the aquifer to an underground reservoir on the hill above the mill. The wedge shaped structure to the right of the mill in front of the picket fence housed powerful ...
Reference: WH1115
In the early 1880s, Elm View mill ceased operation as a flour mill, and was converted to drive a set of ram-pumps to pump water up to the high ground to the east of Spring Shaw wood where there had been constructed a large subterranean reservoir. From here water was fed to the town, the ...
Reference: WH1118
The lady standing in the doorway of number 6 Mill Street is Florence Louisa (nee Paige) Allen, who would have been 52 in 1921. She lived at 2 Mill Street from 1891 and was still there in 1939. The lady in the hat is her daughter Ellen (nee Paige) Whitmore who married Fred Whitmore in ...
Reference: WH1129
Home to the Matthews family between the wars, these cottages were originally built to house nursery workers. The origin of the name ‘Newton’ has faded into obscurity, but was well known to older townsfolk at that time. This was one of the first nursery sites to be closed around the area, closely followed by Farley ...
Reference: 0050
