Bourne Mill from the west

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 5 Sep 2015

The photo was taken on a brief evening visit, from public space (in Bourne Road) rather than from within the National Trust grounds. I chose the angle in the hope of showing the building's most distinctive features: the elaborate gables, with their array of pinnacles. Not a great deal seems to be known about the building's origins, but a tablet set in the south gable is inscribed 'Thomas Lucas, miles, me fecit Anne Domini 1591'. So it seems its builder was a soldier. I've seen it suggested that Lucas was of Dutch or Flemish origin - which could well explain the fantastical gables. Whatever his origins, Lucas's design strikes me as very un-English - unlike almost anything in England other than Image The mill stands on a bank which dams a stream known as the Bourne. At one stage in its history the pond served as a fish-pond for the local abbey, but it isn't clear whether the pond was constructed for that purpose or to serve an earlier mill. In any case, the consensus is that Lucas's building was intended as a fishing lodge, not for any industrial purpose: http://www.colchesterhistoricbuildingsforum.org.uk/drupal/node/251

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