Case Study
Tocketts Mill: From troubles to triumphs
Tees Heritage Trust aims to rescue, conserve, and find new uses for neglected historic buildings and sites in the Tees Valley area for the benefit of the local community.
Tocketts Mill was the Trust’s first project and the only one it still manages. Having restored much of the mill, the Trust is keen to ensure its legacy survives.
Members Projects in the Spotlight
Tees Heritage Trust
Tocketts Mill is among the best-preserved working water mills in the country. The charitable trust, initially founded as Cleveland Building Preservation Trust Ltd in 1982, changed its name to Tees Heritage Trust in 2013 to better reflect its purpose and location. Over the last 40 years, the Trust has used its expertise to act as a consultant on mill restorations in the wider local area. It has an extensive restoration portfolio, including Redcar Town Clock, a World War I acoustic mirror (also in Redcar), the Zetland Hotel stable block in Saltburn that was saved from dereliction and converted into residential units, and the 17th-century Ivy House at Cowpen Bewley, particularly significant as it lies on foundations dating to around 1450.
Records suggest Tocketts Mill was established before 1272 and was one of four medieval corn mills powered by the same beck running through the valley. Like other mills, it was modified over the centuries. However, when industry extended into the area in the 19th century, the mill was greatly enlarged to meet the increased demand for flour, and the current iron waterwheel and gearing were installed. In 1900, the mill’s tenancy was passed to William Seaton, who milled animal feed. Apart from a brief time during World War I and II, the mill did not commercially mill flour again. The waterwheel finally stopped turning in 1960. Twelve years later, when the last tenant died, Tocketts Mill was returned to Zetland Estates, which opened a caravan park on the site and used the mill as the site office.used the mill as the site office.
Tocketts Mill was the Trust’s first project and the only one it still manages. Having restored much of the mill, the Trust is keen to ensure its legacy survives.
In 1974, John Harrison, one of the Trust’s directors and a long-time admirer of the mill, discouraged the caravan park owners from pursuing plans to convert it into a restaurant. Instead, he persuaded them that its value was as a heritage mill, and its restoration became a condition of planning permission granted to develop the caravan park.
South Park Sixth Form College staff and students, led by lecturers John Harrison and Peter Morgan, started the arduous restoration of the interior and machinery.
The owners hired contractors to restore the mill’s exterior, including replacing windows, repairing the roof, and repointing the walls. Incredibly, Hauxwell & Sons of Yarm who were commissioned to restore the waterwheel, may have been its original builders in the 1870s. The following year, South Park Sixth Form College staff and students, led by lecturers John Harrison and Peter Morgan, started the arduous restoration of the interior and machinery.
The mill had a bad case of woodworm, and much of the top floor and wooden structures throughout needed replacing. Fortunately, this only affected one of the structural beams. Mortar with a ‘bagged off’ finish replaced rotten plaster, new sluice gates were fitted, and electricity was installed. Sadly, in 1978, the dam and leat bringing water to the mill were damaged by floodwater, and it was not feasible to restore them. An electric water pump was, therefore, installed to bring water to the waterwheel. When completed, aside from the electric pump and barriers needed to make the building safe for visitors, the mill was very much back to its pre-1960 operational condition.
In 1983, the Trust signed a lease for the building and secured funding through the government’s Manpower Services Commission’s job creation schemes. This allowed the Trust to employ a miller and open a bakery selling products made with Tocketts Mill flour. When the funding ended in 1989, this was no longer financially sustainable, and the mill was left unstaffed.
The Friends of Tocketts Mill, a skilled group of volunteer enthusiasts and a subsidiary of Tees Heritage, took on responsibility for the site. They still operate the mill for the public’s benefit and are responsible for most of its maintenance. When the support for the waterwheel shaft collapsed on National Mills Day in 2006, the group replaced the damaged framework and realigned the shaft. The Friends have needed to occasionally commission specialist engineers to replace elements such as the glands on the pump and a damaged upright shaft. Tocketts Mill is leased to the Trust on a yearly basis for a nominal fee, however, without a long-term contract, the Friends have struggled to secure funding for large restoration projects. Fortunately, in 2009, when the roof needed replacing and the walls repointing, the caravan park owners stepped in and paid for the work.
John Harrison and Peter Morgan, the teachers who began the restoration 40 years ago, are still active members of the Trust and Friends. Over the years, they have collected mill memorabilia and created working models to demonstrate how mills from various eras operated – valuable resources that John and Peter hope will benefit future generations. Through its efforts, the Trust is working to attract younger members to pass on their knowledge and ensure the mill can continue to welcome visitors for years to come.
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