Oxted

 

Broadham Green

Mayflower Cottage 1400 hall house.

Old Cottage with Horsham slate roof

Broadham Mushroom  Blue Prince Mushrooms which stands as a collection of sheds, had a much better chance of highly productive cultivation than in mines nearby but could not withstand the adverse economic conditions of the 1980s and lay empty for several years. It was reopened in 1993 by Kent Intensive Farmers with the purpose of researching and growing exotic mushrooms for the table using organic media instead of straw. The commercially sensitive nature of the work precludes details being available. 

Spring Lane

Oxted mill.   Has been a water mill site since the mid-19th century but a second mill was built as an extension to the first in 1893.  Both mill buildings are of red brick but the newer one is in the style of a Victorian warehouse.  It is possible to descend to the streambed at the back of the mill and look under the buildings.  Here can be seen the rusting remains of the old iron waterwheel, enclosed when the later mill was built, and a later rare Girard turbine which powered the 1893 mill.  The mill of 1893 was a roller mill and was built at the time that William Heasman, also of Coltsford Mill, was the miller.  Powered by the turbine it gave a finer grade flour than the older mill but consumed far more water to grind the same quantity of wheat.  Thus Coltsford Mill farther down stream was worked at the same time as the turbine was used because this was its time of maximum water supply.  Flour milling ceased in 1951 and the buildings still find use as small business accommodation.  Apart from the mill buildings, still present to admire is the millpond and waterways, the early 18th century mill cottage and six millstones leaning against the side of the mills at the roadside.  These stones miraculously seem to avoid the attention of vandals and four of them are French burr millstones.

Wildlife sanctuary west of Godstone old silver sand workings