C18 timber framed and weatherboarded 2 I/2 storey tidemill straddling Roman River. The building uses much reused timber. Late C19 red brick built 4 storey block beyond of pier and panel construction. Timber framed mill now clad with metal and many C20 additions. Internally floors supported on wooden and cast iron columns, some mounting brackets for line shafting and sealed trap doors for sack hoists; truncated metal wheel survives in situ. Some modern grain machinery and wooden hoppers in upper floors; also sprinkler system.<1>

Fingringhoe / no gear.<2>

Records show that a tide mill driven by a breast-shot wheel was extant by c.1400. It is known that there was a tide mill at Fingringhoe in 1531, as it is referred to in a judgement in favour of Thomas Audley which states ‘the newly built by Richard Whiter and Robert Cooper, had been wrongfully alienated by the Abbot of St Johns Colchester and the College of Higham Ferrers’. The tide mill was entirely rebuilt in the C18 and by the end of that century records show that Fingringhoe Tide mill was occupied by Richard Stone and later Edward Stammers, Samuel Heath and John Royce. George Hellen took over the mill in 1848, at which point it run 5 pairs of stones with an output of 12-15 loads per week. Around 1890, the 16ft x 8 ft water wheel and particularly its iron shaft was extended by means of a claw clutch and an additional axle shaft and pit wheel (Benham, 1976). This increased its capability to drive two sets of three pairs of stones. With a good head of water it could drive four pairs and all the dressing machines, however the additional load eventually caused the axle to fail and by 1893 a new steam roller mill, augmenting the old tide mill, was built by Messrs Chopping. One pair of stones remained in use up to the late 1920s and the waterwheel continued, powering a dynamo up until World War II, after which it was removed. In 1933 the mill was purchased by Messrs Hitchcock, a 6000 quarter silo was added and the mill converted to a provender mill for the manufacture of flaked maize and maize based products. At the same time plant for the production of Sussex ground oats was installed and 550HP of oil engines. After a fire in 1938 which destroyed the silo, the whole site plant was converted to electric power. It was rebuilt in c.1939 and a second silo added in c.1957. Grain arriving on barges via the adjacent creek was unloaded by suction plant with a capacity of 20 tons per hour and transferred via conveyor to one of 16 bins. The waterwheel in the tide mill was last used up until 1942 and the sailing barges servicing the mill continued until 1978. C. Hitchcock Ltd of Bures continued in business until 1993 and following its closure the whole complex was sold for redevelopment. At that point the site broadly comprised three buildings, the tide mill, (used as a store) covered in corrugated iron, the late C19 four storey brick and slate steam mill and a large C20 flour mill/silo. The latter has since been demolished.
The mill buildings at Fringringhoe lie at a short distance to the north of the village centre and parish church and either sit astride or perch on the southern bank of the Roman River. The site has changed significantly since its visit by H. Benham in 1976 and by S. Gould twenty years later. Only two of the three buildings mentioned remain, the large C20 grain silo/flour mill has since been demolished, while both surviving mills have been converted to residential use.
The external appearance of the former tide mill has been significantly altered following its conversion to residential use. These alterations include the removal of its utilitarian iron cladding and replacement with more traditional weatherboard, the recovering of the roof with slate, the insertion of new window apertures into both long walls and roofline, and the reinstatement of a (replica) over-sailing lucam, onto the northern gable. The survival of internal features, technology, fixtures and fittings is expected to be minimal. The former tide mill is a 3½ storey, timber-framed and gable ended range with a catslide roof continuing down over a later, lower extension built up to the western long elevation. All the windows and most of the apertures are modern insertions, comprising a mixture of multi-pane sashes and casements. Roof lights have been inserted into the western roof plane and three lead covered flat roof dormers, into the opposing east roof. A large fixed glazed ‘picture window’ of an approximate bays width sits central to the eastern elevation. This window exposes a length of heavy scantling primary braced framing whose character suggests an C18 date. Loading doors are present in both north and south gables, the northern door lies above another former loading door (now converted to a window) and below a modern over-sailing lucam on straight braces, while a single door remains at first floor in the southern wall.
Adjoining the tide mill to the south is the four-storey five-bay brick and slate steam mill of 1893. The steam mill is built in pier and panel construction with yellow brick walls interrupted at bay intervals by red brick strip pilasters. The slate covered gable ended roof has gable parapets, large ridgeline ventilating ducts and a central weatherboared lucam to the east front. The gable roofed lucam, serving the upper (third) floor straddles the eaves and is supported on cantilevered steel joists instead of the more common braces. The lucam lies directly above loading doors at both second and first floors. The central main entrance at ground floor and the loading door at first floor both have blue brick jambs and arches, although this treatment is not replicated in the loading doorway of the second floor, suggesting a later insertion. The mill is typical of many C19 industrial buildings in its robust build and symmetry. This symmetry is noticeable in the pattern of fenestration across both principal elevations. From the ground to second floors the windows have rough red brick segmental arch heads which contrast with the yellow brick walls while across the upper storey the window apertures adopt a flat arch with similar contrasting red brick. All of the window joinery are modern replica sashes. Tie bars cross the building axially at floor level and longitudinally at second floor. Strip pilasters reinforce the gable walls. In common with the tide mill it is expected that the levels of surviving technology, fixtures and fittings is low. The built remains of a timber jetty survives to the east of the steam mill and within a ‘quayside or cut’ opened out for lighters or barges.
Present Use: Residential
Condition: Good
Later modifications and residential conversion have impacted upon the historic and architectural significance of both buildings. Despite these alterations and due to the loss of equivalent tide mills, including examples at Battlesbridge, Stambridge, Walton, St Osyths and Heybridge, Fingringhoe survives as an important historic mill as it is one of only two extant, broadly complete tide mills (the other Thorrington) in Essex.<3>

A photographic survey was undertaken by Colchester Archaeological Trust in 1997, prior to demolition and refurbishment.<4>