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Pann’s people
Lisa Asuncion celebrates the folk keeping River Wye's last working flour mill running.
In 1878, John Parker, Town Clerk of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, said: “The river made the mills. The mills made the market and the market made the town.” Today’s High Wycombe boasts the only working mill out of 39 that once operated along the small but mighty river Wye. Located at the main entrance of an expansive open space called The Rye, which lies on the A40 London Road within walking distance of the town centre, Pann Mill is a proud reminder of High Wycombe’s industrial heritage.
A brief history of the mill
The earliest known record of Pann Mill is in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book of 1086, when it was one of six mills on the river Wye. The mill is thought to have been named after the French knight Roger de Panil, to whom it was given during the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) in thanks for monetary aid rendered in the Crusades.
Unlike other mills along the fast-flowing river Wye, which produced cloth and paper, Pann Mill was a corn mill - corn being an old term for grain.* Excavations on the site by local archaeologists Stanley and Pauline Cauvain have revealed evidence that the mill was also used for fulling cloth during the medieval period. In the 13th century, Wycombe’s flour mills were amongst England’s most productive and the town became a chief supplier for bread to the Royal Court of Westminster.
Pann Mill was bought by the High Wycombe Corporation in 1898, when the mill house was reduced in size and the cottage demolished so that nearby Easton Street could be widened. Ownership subsequently changed hands several times before the Jarvis family bought the mill in 1921. After World War II, demand for locally milled flour dwindled and the mill became run down. From around 1961 until 1967, Pann Mill produced only animal feed before it closed down and, in 1968, Wycombe District Council bought the site for development.
Charting changing fortunes
Pann Mill’s already precarious future took an even more perilous turn in 1971, when High Wycombe (now Buckinghamshire) Council bought it as part of its London Road widening project. Most of the mill and associated buildings were demolished, leaving only the Victorian waterwheel, its supporting wall and some of the mill machinery. The mill seemed destined for a fate similar to many others that once operated on the river Wye.
Fortunately, the road widening plan was abandoned and the High Wycombe Society took interest in rescuing the mill. In 1972, the Society successfully convinced the Council of the merits of restoring the mill to working condition. In the autumn of 1975, the District Council gave permission for the Victorian waterwheel to be turned, the essential first step in the planned restoration project by the Society’s Water Group. With the help of the District Council Engineer, they took this step closer to the dream of using the river Wye to power the 19th century waterwheel again in time for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977.
In the event, it was January 1978 before the wheel was back up and running, though funding still was not available for a suitable building to house the mill equipment. It then took until 1984 before construction of the new mill building, based on designs by High Wycombe Society’s Colin Kennedy, could begin. It was largely funded by Marks and Spencer as part of the company’s centenary celebrations, with additional financial assistance from the Lottery Fund, administered by the Wycombe District Council.
There was a lot of local interest in the restoration. Businesses offered their engineering and technical expertise, while donations to the Pann Mill fund also helped tremendously to spur the project on. In 1984, wind- and watermill expert Chris Wallis, then Chairman of The Chiltern Society Historic Buildings Group, and Brian Honess of the High Wycombe Society started renovation work on the machinery. While their aim was to save as much of the original hardware as possible, other crucial mill machinery equipment was rescued from a farm mill at Drayton Parslow near Bletchley.
Local and other businesses continued to provide discounts, donate materials and essential components and their kindness is acknowledged by a permanent display inside the mill. There were many other volunteers who helped the group, working tirelessly on finishing touches to the mill building, descaling and restoration of the waterwheel, construction of a large workshop, landscaping of the gardens, and many other improvements, including river work.
Looking ahead to the future
More than 50 years ago, the Pann Mill Restoration Group began the mammoth task of rebuilding the mill, with the ultimate goal of selling its stone-ground flour to the people of Wycombe. On 14 May 2000, that year’s National Mills Day, the dream came true thanks to the team led by Myra King with Ian Barratt, Cathy Craft, Vic Day, Peter Hazzard, John Mumford, Owen Rush, Margaret Simmons and Robert Turner, with assistance from Colin Adams, Dick Hoare, Brian Honess, Robert Jarvis (the last private owner of the mill), Ian and Diana Stone, and Chris Wallis, plus inspiration from Jack Scruton MBE.
Almost quarter of a century later, Pann Mill is still producing flour thanks to its current team of eight volunteers – Caroline Clarke, Malcolm Connell, Alan Furness, Kevin Legg, Mick Lewis, William Sprigge, Robert Turner and Robert Westmoreland. Known as ‘The Millers’, they meet every first and third Sunday morning of the month to maintain the mill and a garden named in memory of Margaret Simmons, who was a High Wycombe Society volunteer gardener. The team also run three open days in May, July and September, when they mill and sell flour from approximately three-quarters of a ton of wheat grown in nearby Stokenchurch. They also offer guided tours to schools and other local societies.
What does the future of the mill look like? With the support of Buckinghamshire Council and local residents and the unwavering dedication of its team of volunteers, Pann Mill will continue to be the only working mill on the nine mile stretch of the river Wye.
*hence sweetcorn, salt corns (from which we get ‘corned beef’), peppercorns etc. [ed.]
Originally published in True Loaf magazine issue 59, April 2024.
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Published Tuesday 12 November 2024
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