Stillington Mill

Please click on an image to get the enlarged version.

Early 20th Century postcard. Two unknown boys are standing on the bridge that runs over the channel which returned water from the mill wheel to the River Foss. A farm cart stands facing towards Farlington and a haystack can be seen in the background.	Early 20th Century Postcard. What is believed to be a wedding party posing on the bridge. Thought to be the Wood Family.
c1937. The Dutch style millhouse can be seen in this postcard. This was built by the Croft family, the architect being a friend of theirs. The flywheel of a stationary engine can be seen on the left of this image. When water levels were low the engine would have been used to power the mill.	c1937 The Mill Dam. Note the sluice gate. This one was used to return water from the dam to the foss, regulating the water level in the dam.
Mid 20th Century. An excellent view of the Mill, its house and the mill bridge.	Mid 20th Century aerial view. A fantastic photograph showing the mill with its elegant 17th Century house behind. Sadly this was later demolished. The mill is still in production and the house occupied: there's a tidy vegetable plot at the rear of the house.
c1949 photograph. Mary and David Green paddling a collapsible canoe along the leat that fed the mill dam. Note the sizeable water course.	c1935. A family snap. Arthur and Dora Shepherd with their son Geoff, who was to be the last miller at Stillington Mill. Dora was the daughter of Tom and Annie Gibson who between them ran the mill for over thirty years.
1946 Newspaper Clipping. Is Stillington the noisiest village? This article, probably from The Yorkshire Gazette, tries to determine this by touring the village interviewing, among others, the miller.	1962 Newspaper Article. From The Yorkshire Press on the closure of Stillington Mill.
1968 Newspaper Clipping. This article, possibly from The Yorkshire Post, describes the mill conversation in great detail.

Transcript of 'A New Life for the Mill'.

It would seem an almost  impossible task to convert an ancient mill complete with wheel, water and workings into a home. But this is just what Mr and Mrs Noel Hutchinson did when they bought Stillington Mill near York.

They found it by accident. For some time they had been looking for an unusual home and came to the village to look at another house. In exploring the village they came down a quiet lane and saw the mill. They decided this was the place for them so they approached the farmer who owned it and bought it for £1,500.

A mill was first mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The present building is believed to be 300 years old and was last used as a mill ten years ago.

It took Mr and Mrs Hutchinson about one year to get full planning permission before they could begin. The fact that the building was a shell was a help for it meant they could start from scratch. They decided to do as much as possible themselves to defray the heavy cost of the building work.

More skilled work like the laying of drains, the main plumbing, installation of heating and electricity and some of the more complicated joinery was done by professionals.

" We never considered ourselves handy types,"  Mrs Hutchinson commented, " We were surprised when we found we could fit things like windows."

Her husband, an architect, designed the conversion, which has been split into two stages. The first has been completed. A hole in the wall for a door, a staircase and some partitions plus some decorating will finish the second.

Estimated Cost

They have worked to a well thought out budget and have estimated the total cost of conversion, including the purchase of the house, will be under £7,000.

Most weekends the house has been filled with energetic friends and relatives all busy with workmen's tools. The roof was in good repair so this was one job that did not have to be tackled. Mr and Mrs Hutchinson laid new floors, lined ceilings and treated all the old beams for woodworm.

When she was helping to lay pieces of the floors and ceilings Mrs Hutchinson soon developed a good head for heights. She found herself treading between beams with nothing between herself and the ground, two storeys down.

The walls were flat with whitewash which had accumulated over the years. Mr and Mrs Hutchinson chiselled this away to the attractive stone beneath. They then sealed the surface with a  special preparation to stop stone dust escaping and have painted two walls in the dining room deep olive green.

 Liking the idea of open plan rooms they were able to make the best of the open plan layout of the building.  Instead of having to do away with passages  and extra walls they had to put in the odd partition themselves.

A shed at the back of the building was demolished to reveal the large mill wheel. The family are busy smartening up this part of the mill and making a small water garden around the mill wheel.

Unexpected snags which cropped up during the work often had good results. When the corner of the dining room was renovated one section of wall was found to be in  bad condition. On investigation Mr Hutchinson discovered an outside opening so he turned this into an effective peephole window.

The walls were full of grain  when they were opened up for piping. Swallows and other birds were loathe to leave what had been their home for several years. Mrs Hutchinson found when she left the windows open that the birds would fly in. The crows caused slight difficulties by deciding to nest in the boiler chimney which was not discovered until the chimney caught fire.

When the Hutchinsons moved in they had not had the time to build a staircase so had to climb up a ladder.