Cash boost to restore 300 year old Gloucester’s Sherriff mill
The Sheriff’s Mill off Abbeymead Avenue closed in the 1920s.
Work to restore the remains of a historic Gloucester water mill is underway.
The Sheriff’s Mill off Abbeymead Avenue was used to grind crops like wheat and later corn and finally closed in the 1920s.
The name of the mill is thought to relate to it being once owned by the Sheriff of Gloucester.
Parts of a footbridge and the mill leat, an artificial stream that once provided water to the mill pond, survive on the council owned land.
They are thought to be 200 to 300 years old and are the only surviving remains of a watermill in Gloucester but a mill has stood on the site since at least the 13th century.
There were once lots of water mills in and around Gloucester but most have been demolished and redeveloped.
Gloucester City Council was awarded a grant of £6,000 after applying to the Enovert Community Trust to carry out the repair works and provide new interpretation.
Taking place over the next few months the work will include clearing the site and removing any rubbish.
And there will be conservation work done to both the bridge and the mill leat along with the installation of a new interpretation board explaining the history of the site.
Abbeydale councillor and a former sheriff of the city said he initiated the project back in 2019 and has worked relentlessly to see it come to fruition.
He is hoping more will be able to be done to excavate the site and see what else remains there.
“It’s a very exciting project, and it’s taken an incredibly long time to get it to this stage,” he said.
“Abbeymead and Abbeydale are great parts of the city in which to live, and I’m hoping the work now proposed will be just the beginning, and eventually we’ll be able to do more excavation on this site to see what else is still there and make quite a feature of it.
“Having been a Sheriff of Gloucester myself it’s great to have this link here in Abbeymead going way back into our past, centuries ago, to previous sheriffs.”
Planning cabinet member Sarah Sawyer (LD, Longlevens) said: “We’re very fortunate to live in an area with such rich history and so many fascinating stories waiting to be uncovered and shared.
“I hope this conservation work helps bring the story of Sheriff’s Mill to life for both residents and visitors.”
Angela Haymonds, Manager of Enovert Community Trust, said: “Heritage projects are very important to Enovert Community Trust, and the Trustees were delighted that a project which was located in such an accessible spot and which related to both the city’s agricultural and industrial heritage came to us for support.”