Grove Park – Upper Mill

Grove Park borders one of Carshalton’s ponds – the Lower Pond, which feeds the River Wandle. The site of the Upper Mill warranted a mention in the Domesday Book of 1086.

A sale document dated 1590 described it as ‘two wheat mills and a malt mill’ – and this, all under one roof. It probably consisted of three small water wheels each driving an individual stone.

By the late 18th century the mill was long out of date. The owner at the time, John Hilbert, commissioned John Smeaton, who also designed the Eddystone Lighthouse, to build a new one.

By the end of the 19th century, water power was augmented with a steam engine, and the mill was used as a private electricity plant for Stone Court, a nearby house. An Alpine-style wooden building was erected to house the generator.

By the start of the First World War, the water wheel was replaced by a turbine, only to be abandoned by 1922.

Restoration was finally completed in 2004 and the building is occasionally open to the public.