Knowles Mill

Knowles Mill is a Grade II listed water-powered grain mill, located on Dowles Brook, in the Wyre Forest, Bewdley, Worcestershire.{{NHLE|num=1166692|desc=Knowles Mill|grade=II|access-date=31 July 2022}}{{Cite journal |last=Cherry |first=John |date=1 January 1972 |title=Post-Medieval Britain in 1971 |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/pma.1972.014 |journal=Post-Medieval Archaeology |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=208–223 |doi=10.1179/pma.1972.014 |issn=0079-4236|access-date=31 July 2022|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |last1=Halsted |first1=Jon |title=Knowles Mill, Wyre Forest, Bewdley, Worcestershire - Historic Building Recording, Archaeological Evaluation |last2=Hewitson |first2=Chris |last3=Booth |first3=Tim |publisher=Birmingham Archaeology |year=2010 |location=Birmingham |pages=14–22}} The forest is the UK's largest National Nature Reserve and is administered by Forestry England, Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Natural England.{{Cite web |title=Wyre Forest |url=https://www.forestryengland.uk/wyre-forest |access-date=26 July 2022 |website=Forestry England |language=en |archive-date=26 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726141215/https://www.forestryengland.uk/wyre-forest |url-status=live }} However the mill, as well as the mill pond, meadow, cottage and gardens are National Trust property.

The mill is approximately {{cvt|3/4|mi|m}} from the nearest car park.{{Cite web |title=Knowles Mill |url=https://www.spab.org.uk/mills/visit-a-mill/41778 |access-date=26 July 2022 |website=spab.org.uk |language=en |archive-date=17 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017034037/https://www.spab.org.uk/mills/visit-a-mill/41778 |url-status=live }} The path to the mill roughly follows Dowles Brook stream.{{Cite book |last=Boston |first=Irene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FajYlrjUPM4C&dq=knowles+mill+national+trust&pg=PA16 |title=Best Tea Shop Walks in Worcestershire |date=1999 |publisher=Sigma Leisure |isbn=978-1-85058-646-3 |language=en |access-date=2022-07-27 |archive-date=2022-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811033849/https://books.google.com/books?id=FajYlrjUPM4C&dq=knowles+mill+national+trust&pg=PA16 |url-status=live }} The site also includes Knowles Mill Cottage, which is not accessible to the public.{{NHLE|num=1100006|desc=Knowles Mill Cottage|grade=II|access-date=31 July 2022}} The woodland Knowles Coppice surrounds the mill to the south.{{Cite web |title=Knowles Coppice {{!}} Worcestershire Wildlife Trust |url=https://www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/nature-reserves/knowles-coppice |access-date=26 July 2022 |website=www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk |archive-date=26 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726141213/https://www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/nature-reserves/knowles-coppice |url-status=live }}

One of nine possible mills that historically worked on Dowles Brook, Knowles Mill was built in the eighteenth century, and was later modified in the nineteenth century.{{Cite web |title=MNA142413 National Trust Heritage Records |url=https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA142413 |access-date=26 July 2022 |website=heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk}} The surviving building is two storeys high and the site also preserves an overshot mill wheel made of iron and a great spur wheel, alongside other remnant machinery. The first record of a mill on the site dates to 1757 when it was listed as for sale in a local newspaper. However there is documentary evidence preceding 1757 that lists owners of the land that the mill was built on. These owners include Arthur Palmer, c.1661, Edward Wheeler, c.1693, Roger Hunt, c.1704, Antony Betts, c.1717, Edward Faulkner, c.1722 and Daniel Crun, c.1735.

The first owner of the mill was William Crun, in 1757. It passed through a number of owners, including William and Mary Herbert, William Nicholls and Arthur Nott. The mill takes its name from the Knowles family who worked there from 1803 to the 1870s; earlier names included Coventry Mill and Upper Town Mill.{{Cite journal |last=Booth |first=Tim |date=2010 |title=Mills on Dowles Brook |url=http://wyreforest.net/wp-content/uploads/Historical_Articles/2010-Mills-on-Dowles-Brook_optimize.pdf |journal=Wyre Forest Study Group Annual Review |pages=10 |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308143322/https://wyreforest.net/wp-content/uploads/Historical_Articles/2010-Mills-on-Dowles-Brook_optimize.pdf |url-status=live }} The first member of the family to be listed as owner was James Knowles. The mill continued in use until 1891, when it became no longer financially viable.

It was donated to the National Trust by Paul Cadbury in 1938, along with four acres of orchards.{{Cite book |last=Matheson |first=Donald Macleod |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4EpAQAAIAAJ&q=knowles+mill+national+trust |title=Places of Natural Beauty: National Trust Guide |date=1950 |publisher=Batsford |pages=66}}{{Cite book |last=Airs |first=Malcolm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f5kwAQAAIAAJ&q=knowles+mill+national+trust |title=The Twentieth Century Great House |date=2002 |publisher=Department for Continuing Education, Oxford University |isbn=978-0-903736-31-2 |pages=88}} The property was visited by the historian James Lees-Milne during his work as a curator for the Trust.{{Cite book |last1=Lees-Milne |first1=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3fIEHXDK5toC&dq=%22knowles+mill%22&pg=PT76 |title=Diaries, 1942-1954 |last2=Bloch |first2=Michael |year=2011 |publisher=John Murray Press |isbn=978-1-84854-709-4 |access-date=2022-07-27 |archive-date=2022-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811033850/https://books.google.com/books?id=3fIEHXDK5toC&dq=%22knowles+mill%22&pg=PT76 |url-status=live }}

In 2010 Birmingham Archaeology investigated the site and found the remains of a cast iron mill wheel, as well as "remains of the head race culvert"; other trenches investigated water flow and the mill race. Artefacts from the excavations included a 17th-century yellowware pancheon bowl, a Sankey flowerpot, two shards of 18th-century green glass, an early 20th-century pocket-watch and a blue poison bottle inscribed "NOT TO BE TAKEN" from the wheel pit. There were 149 bottles or fragments of glass excavated from the site, representing brands such as Gartons HP Sauce, Bovril, Kidderminster Brewery, White Horse Distillers, Watville Dairies and Venos cough medicine.

Since 1982, climatological measurements have been made at Knowles Mill and have been recorded and analysed at the University of Birmingham.{{cite journal |last=Sheldon |first=Sylvia |url=https://wyreforest.net/wp-content/uploads/Reptiles%26Amphibian_Articles/2000-Reptiles-1999-SS2000_optimize.pdf |title=Wyre Forest Adder Census and Report 1999 and Adder Population Trends through the 1990s - Correlated with Meteorological Data |journal=Wyre Valley Study Group Annual Review |year=2011 |pages=35–39 |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619012941/http://wyreforest.net/wp-content/uploads/Reptiles%26Amphibian_Articles/2000-Reptiles-1999-SS2000_optimize.pdf |url-status=live }} The area surrounding the mill is notable for its adder populations, and for the presence of wood cranesbill.{{cite journal |last=Bingham |first=John |url=https://wyreforest.net/wp-content/uploads/Flora_Articles/2003-JB-Uncommon-Plant-Species_optimize.pdf |title=Uncommon Plant Species found within the Wyre Forest |year=2003 |journal=Wyre Forest Study Group Annual Review |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=8 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108143557/http://wyreforest.net/wp-content/uploads/Flora_Articles/2003-JB-Uncommon-Plant-Species_optimize.pdf |url-status=live }}

File:Knowles Mill 004.jpg|alt=|Knowles Mill, interior

File:Knowles Mill 001.jpg|alt=|Mill mechanism

File:Knowles Mill 002.jpg|alt=|Wheel-pit and waterwheel

File:Footbridge by Knowles Mill - geograph.org.uk - 1034081.jpg|alt=|Footbridge at Knowles Mill

• List of National Trust properties in England
• List of watermills in the United Kingdom

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/downloads/file/5213/dowles_brook_circular_walk_leaflet Dowles Brook Circular Walk] (Worcestershire County Council)
• [https://industrialtour.co.uk/knowles-mill/ Knowles Mill] (website)

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Worcestershire

Category:National Trust properties in Worcestershire

Category:Watermills in England