Introduction
For centuries Wisborough Green parish extended from the Arun valley to the Surrey boundary. Farms lay among clay fields, river meadows and woods, and grain had to travel from those scattered holdings to a mill before it could become flour or animal feed. Two mills answered that need. Brewhurst Mill stood beside the River Lox in the northern hamlet of Loxwood. The village windmill rose near the green, close to the River Kird and the roads leading towards Billingshurst and Petworth.
Their positions reveal the geography of the old parish. Brewhurst served the northern farms and benefited from the steady management of water. The windmill served the central village and used the exposed air above the green. Together they formed two working centres within one agricultural community.
The early mill at Brewhurst, 1521-1700
A mill mentioned in a parish record of 1521 is believed to have been Brewhurst. The first securely identified document is a grant dated 1554, when John Myll senior of Loxwood transferred a messuage called Bruers, its buildings, lands and watermill to John Mill, his son and heir. The place-name developed through forms including Brewers, Brewes and Brewhurst.
The early mill depended upon a carefully shaped water landscape. A dam held back the River Lox, a mill pond stored the head of water, and sluices directed the flow towards the wheels. The first building was a three-storey mill on a sandstone base, equipped with several pairs of stones. Such a complex represented a major investment in masonry, timber, earthworks and water control. Farmers brought corn to be ground and the miller retained an agreed toll for the service.
Road, canal and the coming of the village windmill, 1757-1860
Transport strengthened both milling districts. The Guildford and Arundel turnpike reached Loxwood in 1757, crossing the River Lox near the Onslow Arms and improving the movement of grain, flour and supplies. The Wey and Arun Junction Canal opened in 1816 and its route came through Loxwood, adding another route through the northern landscape.
At the centre of the parish, the village windmill entered the record in March 1820, when an advertisement described an “extraordinary good windmill” close to the New River, the watercourse now called the Kird. Historic England dates the surviving structure to about the same year. The mill was an octagonal smock mill: a tapering weatherboarded tower standing upon a tall, two-storey base of local sandstone with red-brick dressings.
Its sweeps extended to a diameter of about seventy feet. A rotating cap and fantail kept them facing the wind, while shafts and gearing carried power down to the millstones. Three pairs of stones worked within the original arrangement. By 1860 the property was advertised as a freehold mill in good working condition, confirming its place in the commercial life of the village.
The Botting millers and nineteenth-century work
Brewhurst passed through the Seward and Napper interests before the Botting family established a long association with the farm and mill. Henry Botting took the leasehold during the early nineteenth century, and the 1842 tithe survey recorded a substantial holding of about 199 acres. Later generations traded as Botting Brothers and combined milling with farming across the estate.
A court report from 1859 opens a view into ordinary mill business. Witnesses discussed sacks of wheat, bushel weights, flour, offal, tolls and the dressing of grain through fans and screens. The case shows the precision expected when grain changed form and value inside the mill.
The village windmill also adapted to changing conditions. Two additional pairs of stones were installed in its sandstone base and powered by a stationary steam engine. This auxiliary source allowed grinding to continue during calm weather. Wind, steam, grain bins and five pairs of stones made Champion’s Mill an important industrial building beside the village centre.
Fire at Brewhurst, 1899
On Wednesday 23 August 1899, Brewhurst Mill suffered the defining event of its working history. An oil leak developed while Stephen Moon junior was attending the recently installed engine. The escaping fuel reached a lamp, and the flames travelled rapidly into the timberwork, weatherboarding and upper floors.
Maurice Botting and workers drew water from the nearby river. Assistance arrived from Loxwood and from Alfold, where a cricket match was in progress. A message went from Alfold Post Office to Horsham, and the Volunteer Fire Brigade travelled nearly ten miles with two manual engines. The mill contained more than one thousand sacks of wheat, oats, barley, maize, peas, flour and meal. Damage was estimated at about £2,000.
Reconstruction began promptly. The brick lower walls supported new weatherboarded upper floors, and modern equipment included elevators, grain bins, cleaning machinery, roller milling and line shafting. Brewhurst emerged as a larger and more mechanised mill while retaining the water system that had shaped the site for centuries.
Storm at Champion’s Mill, 1910-1915
The village windmill met its own dramatic change in 1910. A strong gust caught the sweeps from behind and displaced the cap and sail assembly. The lower sweeps lodged against the tower while the cap hung at a steep angle. Mr Champion, the owner associated with the name Champion’s Mill, organised attempts to restore the structure with ropes and local assistance.
The cap and sweeps were taken down about six months later and the open tower received a roof. The remaining height briefly served as a lookout. In 1915 local builder Mr Baldwin reduced the timber tower to a safer level. The octagonal sandstone base and lower portion of the smock survived, preserving the form of a mill that had dominated views of the village throughout the nineteenth century.
Brewhurst enters the engine age, 1918-1938
The Botting association at Brewhurst continued until 1918, when the Brewhurst Milling Company took over under Walter Roper. Water continued to contribute power, while mechanical engines gave the mill a more dependable working rhythm. In 1928 a 41-horsepower Blackstone horizontal oil engine was installed in a purpose-built engine shed. Belts and pulleys carried its power into the mill’s shafting, elevators and processing machinery.
The old water system remained visible in the mill pond, sluices, internal wheel and external flood wheel. The combination of water, oil power and twentieth-century machinery made Brewhurst a rare survival of successive milling technologies within one building.
On 1 April 1938 Loxwood became a separate civil parish. Brewhurst, the River Lox and the northern milling landscape entered the new parish. From that date the continuing history of Brewhurst belongs to Loxwood, while the Old Mill remained within Wisborough Green.
A parish shaped by grain and power
The two mills tell a connected story of agricultural work across a large Wealden parish. Brewhurst grew from a sixteenth-century watermill into a mechanised complex of wheels, stones, elevators and engines. Champion’s Mill brought wind power into the centre of the village and later added steam to maintain production through calm weather.
Fire at Brewhurst and storm damage at the windmill changed both buildings, yet each retained a visible place in the landscape. Brewhurst preserves the relationship between river, pond, wheel and mill building. The Old Mill preserves its octagonal sandstone base and the lower weatherboarded smock. Their surviving fabric recalls the long journey of grain from field to sack, flour bin, bakehouse and feeding trough, and the practical ingenuity that kept the parish supplied.
