The water is lower and we can now see Jonah better.
The mill as it was in 1910. The blob in the water is a statue called Jonah.(Read on!)
Many mills must have stood on the Ouse at Turvey, we can only hazzard a guess but about 6 would seem likely. There were 26 mills on the Ouse in the Doomesday book, including at least one at Turvey.
From 1953 to 1965 the Mill was managed by Mr Dashwood who worked for Mr Melhuish's company - Cristo Crisps. Here is an aeriel photo of the mill taken at this time.
A terrible fire in 1885 caused much damage to the mill, leaving little more than a chimney. This survived until 1935 when the Territorial Army demolished it.
The interior of the mill in its heyday.
This is the gutted mill after the fire.
A statue called Jonah stands in the mill pond. He was placed there on 15 April 1844. He now has a companion known as Eve (far right photo) However Eve is clearly a man.
This photo on the right dates from the early twenties when Jonah stood further out of the water.
Over the years the mill
has been a....
flour mill
food store in the Great War
animal foodstuffs mill
potato crisp factory
Multitherm factory
luxury flats
But well I remember the day he fell down,
As it happened he broke not his crown.
Some friends went to help him and wheeled him away
And he for a while at the Abbey did stay.
They gave him a cleaning and structural repair,
Two years they kept him abiding up there.
They placed him again on much firmer ground.
And now on the bank, our Jonah is found.
He looks an old figure, quite ancient you know,
And stands where the water all around him doth flow.
But if you see him all standing alone
Turvey's main attraction, but made only of stone.
An anonymous poem about when
Jonah fell over in February 1876.
One of the millers was called Mr Sevens - he had previously run Bromham Mill.
The still water by the mill, near Turvey Bridge, has gentle slopes leading down to the banks. These slopes were for carts to be wheeled down so that the wheels could be wetted. Why? Well, cart wheels were made from a number of pieces of wood, carefully slotted together. Over time, as the wood naturally dried out, the wood would shrink and the joints become loose - a big potential danger. Wetting the wheels allowed the wood to absorb moisture, swell up and tighten the joints.
This also was a useful technique for metal rimmed wheels, as the natural drying out shrinkage would cause them to become loose if the wood was not periodically wettened.
The miller ground the wheat for both the villagers and the nearby farms. He also received payment for fishing rights for the river. He was well known for his big, salty eels which he caught in traps set in the river near the mill.
