The Mill Pond, Dartford
Introduction
The photograph on this page of The Mill Pond, Dartford by Marathon as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
The Mill Pond, Dartford
Image: © Marathon Taken: 27 Feb 2011
The first mill here was built by John Brown, for slitting iron bars, soon after 1649. It is thought the pond may have been dug at this time to provide a head of water for the mill. The mill changed hands several times. In 1779 it was converted into a saw mill and then in 1790 was rebuilt as a cotton mill employing over 400 boys. The mill burnt down on New Year's Day 1795 and the building which replaced it was known as Phoenix Mill. Doubtless at one time the Mill Pond formed by the River Darent was attractive, but a photograph of 1902 shows it already surrounded by factories. Later came the Wellcome Factory but now all this has been demolished as can be seen here. There are plans to landscape and improve the stretch of the River Darent from the centre of Dartford towards the Thames.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.448088
Longitude
0.220233