History of Abbot’s Mill

Abbot’s Mill was the most impressive of the Canterbury mills. It was designed by the celebrated engineer, John Smeaton, and not built until 1792 shortly after his death. The mill stood on the site of the medieval Abbot’s Mill (which had been used for grain and hemp production), and it retained the old name, although it was also known as City Mill, as it belonged to the corporation. In 1896 it was sold to a member of the Denne family, well-known in East Kent milling circles, after which the mill was often referred to as Denne’s Mill.

There were two waterwheels in the mill driving eight pairs of stones, and the machinery was advanced for its period, being largely of cast-iron.

Tragically, the mill was totally destroyed by fire in October 1933. The site is now a scheduled monument.

Former mill occupants and their descendents

In researching the history for a Canterbury ancestor named John Brown, Abbot’s Mill Project friend and genealogist Peter Sinclair has uncovered a succession of former tenants of Abbot’s Mill of whom he believes himself to be a descendant. He writes:

“I am confident that John Brown, my great great great grandfather, was the same John Brown who held the tenancy of both King’s Mill and Abbot’s Mill in 1791, prior to their sale to Joseph Simmons and Joseph Royle in 1792. He lived in Trott’s House at 19 Pound Lane, which the Canterbury Archaeological Society purchased in 1928. His father could have been Edward Brown who held the tenancy before him, and his grandfather another Edward Brown who was a miller in 1747.”

Confusingly, the mill occasionally changed name depending on who the owner or tenant miller was. Throughout its history, it has been variously known as City Mill, Brown’s Mill, Denne’s Mill, Hopper’s Mill as well as Abbot’s Mill (or Myll in the original).

Timeline of Abbot’s Mill

We we used some of Peter Sinclair’s research, with permission, to provide the following brief timeline.

After St Augustine’s Abbey was dissolved about 1538, the Crown leased to Walter Trotte in November 1540/1 for twenty-one years the “water mill called Abbott’s Myll”, in the parish of St Alphege, Canterbury, which belonged to St Augustine’s monastery.

In September 1542/3, the Crown granted the reversions and rents reserved on this lease to the Mayor and Commonalty of the Canterbury. The Corporation of Cantebury, the mediaeval civic body that governed Cantebury of which the Mayor was the most senior officer, is thought to have repaired it the following year.

As with their other mill, King’s Mill, the Corporation of Canterbury leased “Abbott’s Myll” to tenants. Between 1547 and 1585 the mill is thought to have been operated by a John Hopper, from whom it took its common seventeenth-century name of Hopper’s Mill. William Denne leased it on 19 March 1649 and 14 June 1659. It is possible the mill was demolished in 1695, but rebuilt by the end of the century. In 1703, the city’s two oldest corn mills, King’s and Abbot’s, were leased to John Goldfinch, and later that century to the Brown family. At this point the mill became known as “Brown’s Mill”.

The two mills were sold to James Simmons and Joseph Royle. They rebuilt Brown’s Mill as Abbot’s Mill in 1792 (reverting back to its sixteenth-century name) for the huge sum of £8,000.

The other mill, King’s Mill, was located in the parish of All Saints beside King’s Bridge where the High Street crossed the River Stour. This was upstream of Abbot’s Mill and its use of the same water had caused some tension with St Augustine’s Abbey before the Reformation. Indeed, when it was working, King’s Mill must have reduced the head of water available to Abbot’s Mill a short distance downstream.

Seven years after Simmons and Royle rebuilt Abbot’s Mill in 1792, Simmons wanted to demolish King’s Mill which was probably no longer in use. In 1802, he had it pulled down and a fine new house built for himself.

Into the Victorian era

In 1896 Abbot’s Mill was sold to a member of the Denne family, well-known in East Kent milling circles, after which the mill was often referred to as Denne’s Mill.

Later it was purchased by the artist Sydney Cooper after he married the miller’s daughter Mary Cannon. Cooper lived in nearby Harbledown but had a studio at the top of the mill.

The Mill remained in its 1792 appearance until its destruction by fire in 1933.

More information and photos can be found on the Abbot’s Mill Building page of the Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society website.