JAMES Lucas has only been the miller at Eling Tide Mill for six weeks, but it’s a job that has been done at the site for more than 900 years.
The current building where he spends his days tending the rather battered machinery, ducking low beams and producing wholemeal flour has stood on the site for 230 years.
It is, perhaps, not an obvious job for a 33- year-old mechanical engineer but it is one that James has already fallen in love with.
He was volunteering at Bursledon Brickworks when he heard that the mill was looking for a miller/engineer and jumped at the chance to combine his technical knowledge with a love of heritage.
“I like keeping old things alive,” he says.
“Skills like milling have been passed on for hundreds of years but as time has gone by there is only a handful of people left with these skills. Also, I think the mill speaks to a simpler time, when life wasn’t about Facebook and social networking and mobile phones.”
At one time there were 76 tide mills in London alone but today Eling Tide Mill is the only working tide mill in the country and James is, as far as he knows, one of only two people in the world working as a professional miller at a tide mill, with the other being in Belgium.
The mill was abandoned in the 1940s but was restored between 1975 and 1980, when it reopened as a working mill and living museum.
And James is hoping that, as we become more aware of the environmental impact of electricity generation and the rising costs of fuel, tide mills might make a comeback.
Tidal power is free, predictable and reliable.
“We know months in advance what the tides are going to be. From each tide we can mill for about seven hours and generating electricity would be very similar.
“I would definitely like to see us doing that here at the mill. It would help to guarantee our future if we could generate our own electricity and even make a bit of a profit on it, but whether it would sit well with the heritage agencies is another question.”
In the meantime, urgent upgrades are in hand at the mill.
The machinery is old and needs to be carefully looked after.
James cannot mill at full capacity but some of the parts are being replaced and he hopes to increase the mill’s output after that and begin selling flour to more local businesses.
“At the moment we mill about ten and a half tonnes of flour a year,” he says.
“We could easily increase that to 20 tonnes a year with our current opening times and could double that if we milled whenever it was possible.”
Unlike wind and wave power, as well as being predictable, tidal power is controllable. Once the mill pond has filled up and the tide has dropped around two feet, James can open the mill gate when he wants to, controlling the flow of water across the wheel and therefore the speed of the mill.
Despite being such an unusual attraction – or perhaps because of that – the mill is far from being overrun with visitors. James is keen to increase visitor numbers as well as sales of the mill’s flour. At the moment he generally mills specifically for visitors, many of whom buy a bag of flour that they have seen milled.
The mill produces three flours. Flour of the Forest stone ground wholemeal flour and brown flour are made from grain grown just a few miles away at the Cadland Manor Estate in the New Forest and carry the New Forest Marque.
They also make Canute Brand stone ground wholemeal flour made from wheat which is grown without pesticides and comes from farms across England.
The flour is suitable for making bread and biscuits.
“People get a real kick out of taking home the very flour they see being milled and baking with it,”
says James.
“It’s strong wholemeal flour and it makes very good bread and biscuits. I think I spend most of my wages on the biscuits made out of it that we sell here. They’re addictive!”
As well as milling the flour and eating some of the produce, James spends most days covered in flour, not that he minds.
“I don’t see it as an occupational hazard because now no one can tell how much grey is mine and how much is flour!” he laughs.
“The machinery could be dangerous but it’s all screened off. The main thing is there are so many beams you can bang your head on. I’m five foot eight but I’m still troubled by them. I notice sometimes I’m out and about walking round with my head on one side and my back slightly bent,” he laughs.
But the odd bump is definitely worth it for James to work at such a special place, helping keep our heritage alive.
“I was on holiday recently and I was actually looking forward to coming back to work,” he says.
“This is more of a vocation than a job. I do it for the love of it. When we have people in and the whole building is moving and shaking from the machinery, it’s really magical.” Eling Tide Mill is in Eling Lane, near Totton.
- For more information, visit elingexperience.co.uk
