Kinders Mill, Grove Road, Hitchin

Image: © John Lucas Taken: 27 Feb 2014

An overshot mill, William Lucas is recorded as being the miller in 1613. It was originally called Shotling mill but after a serious fire in 1697, it became known as Burnt Mill. In an act of Parliament in 1757, relating to making the River Ouze navigable, it is referred to as 'Shotling Mill otherwise called Burnt Mill'. It remained in a semi-derelict state (in the ownership of the Crown) until sold to the then tenant, Joseph Ransom in 1813, when it was completely rebuilt as an imposing three-storeyed building with an adjoining house. As a young girl in the early 1820s, my 3 times great-aunt, Phebe Lucas, attended classes with the Ransom daughters at the Mill House and in her journal she describes it as a 'great treat' to attend school there. However, later in the mid-19th century, there was much litigation between the Ransoms and Hitchin Town because of extreme pollution of the local waterways by the town's sewerage, it being said that, in summer, the house was virtually uninhabitable because of the stench. The mill was again totally destroyed by fire in 1889. The building in this view is the extended mill house, the main mill building was to its left. The house is now used as a child day-nursery.

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