Crabble Corn Mill in about 1905.
The first documentary evidence of a mill at Crabble
dates from the Middle Ages. Records show that in 1227, Henry III gave
to the Abbot of St Radigund
"the site of the mill called Crabbehole". In 1664 it is mentioned again
when "Crabbard Mill" was "by accident burnt down" but the mill was rebuilt
as it appears on a map of 1751. An insurance policy for the mill dated
1 November 1788 gives the name of the owners as John Pilcher and Sons
of Dover. The mill at this time was a two storey timber building with
a breastshot waterwheel capable of driving two pairs of mill stones,
and was presumably the 17th century one built after the 1664 fire.
In the early 19th century, with the treat of invasion
by Napoleon's forces, thousands of troops were stationed in and around
Dover to counter any French attack. The Army's Victualling Department
ordered a series of large commercial flour mills to be built along the
Dour and subsidised the building of them
by local millers. The new mills included Lower Buckland Mill, Stembrook
Mill, Charlton Mill, Dover Town Mill and the present Crabble Corn Mill,
which was built in 1812.
The new mill was six storeys high, the lower three
of brick and the upper three of wood with weather boarding. The breastshot
wheel was seven feet across and eighteen feet in diameter, and drove
five pairs of grindstones. It was built alongside the old mill, which
was kept working for about another 30 years before being demolished.
In January 1842 John Webb Pilcher was declared bankrupt,
a bitter blow for a man who had been Mayor of Dover
in 1823 and a leading member of the Corporation for
many years. In 1843 the new owner was Wilsher Mannering,
who had bought the Town Mill in 1836 and was to buy
Lower Buckland Mill in 1865. He had the foresight
to see that London's population explosion would increase
the demand for flour, and that the river Dour
mills were ideally placed to supply the market, especially
when the flour could be sent cheaply by sea.
