Community directory

Stotfold Mill Preservation Trust

Stotfold Mill - a mill has stood at this point on the River Ivel for about a thousand years, one of four Stotfold mills listed in the 1086 Domesday Book.

The Mill, then owned by the Randall family, ceased operation in 1966, and the building was gutted by fire in 1992. The Stotfold Mill Preservation Trust was then set up to buy the ruin, and to direct its restoration to full working order, producing stone-ground flour again for the first time in nearly forty years.

An enthusiastic team of volunteers set to work in 1998, clearing sixty tons of rubble and reclaiming many original bricks for use in the restored building. With generous backing of grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, ShanksFirst, Mid Beds District Council and Motorola, a magnificent mill had gradually risen from the ashes. Stotfold's own watermill is now again standing proudly astride the River Ivel.

When completed and fitted out, the Mill will once more be a focal point for Stotfold, incorporating a meeting place for local groups. There will also be a cafe for visitors, where they can refresh themselves after watching the massive spinning mill-stones produce Stotfold's own flour, and inspecting the rural life artefacts which the trust has been collecting for display in the Mill.

The Mill will be further enhanced by a varied riverside wildlife habitat which the trust is developing in much of the adjacent 8-acre Mill Meadows, leased from the County Council. The trust has planted many indigenous trees, added additional hedges and an osier bed, excavated lakes and ponds, and built an otter holt, all with the aim of eventually making it accessible to the public as an enticing place to delight future visitors.

Registered charity number 1086392