Old Mill Road crossing the River Len

Image: © Marathon Taken: 12 Nov 2013

A lake was created on the River Len, a river ten miles long which rises on the Greensand Ridge at Lenham and flows into the river Medway at Maidstone - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Len The lake was created by damming the river for Brandescombe Mill. To quote Wikipedia for the history of the mill: "This mill was presented to the Priory of Leeds by Robert de Crevecoeur the Younger. The mill was also mentioned in the will of Daniel de Crevequer, who died in 1177. At that time it was a corn mill. Leeds priory was dissolved in 1539 and the mill was still in the ownership of the priory then. In 1628, Thomas Fludd and Ralphe Buffkin sold the mill to William Cage of Lincoln's Inn, Middlesex. By this time it was a fulling mill. Cage was still the owner in 1689, when the mill was in the occupation of William Tompkin and had previously been in the occupation of Bob Potter. Potter remained in occupation until at least 1707. Hasted noted the mill was still working in 1798 and Greenwood's map of 1822 marks the mill as Shilling Mill. The mill probably had a breast-shot waterwheel as the head was not sufficient for an overshot wheel. Fulling Mill had ceased to be used as a mill by 1843, there being no entry in Bagshaw's Directory of that year. The surviving building is of fifteenth century date." This photograph looks along Old Mill Lane where it crosses the Len. The lake is to the right - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3744531 and the old mill race is to the left - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3744535

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