1
|
001
|
|
|
|
                 
|
1884 Report: ''Upper gates require renewing. Lower gates renewed and deepened in 1861, in fair condition; side timbers ands slacker frames, &c., in poor condition. Lower brick work requires repair. Lock-house: Plaster and tiled (date 1799), sheds timber, recently repaired, new tiled, and an addition in brickwork of a washhouse, with bedroom over.
1901 Report: ''Upper gates, pine, fair order, Lower gates , 1861, in bad condition. Lower brickwork requires repair. Cost about £400 The upper sill should be lowered about 1 foot. Lock-house, plaster and tiled (date 1799). Sheds, timber, in fair order.
The name is a mystery. No one seems to know why it is thus named; it could be self-explanatory, the date of the fire lost in the past.
A mill was noted in 1203 and it was first recorded as Burnt Mill in 1580. In the River Stort Act of 1759, it was shown as Brent Mill but this was a copyist’s error since there was a Burnt Mill shown on Samuel Cockett’s map in 1772. The mill closed in about 1880.
By 1885, there was an ironworks where the mill stood. The Outdoor Pursuits Centre now occupies the site.
The photograph above shows the house set well back from the chamber to allow for the wider turf-sided lock, which can be seen in the plan below.
This raises another mystery. The plan, which is dated November 1912, shows proposed alterations to the lock house.
LMA ACC 2423/P1587
The elevation facing the lock bears two plaques - one, presumably the original, has the initials GD (George Duckett), the red hand and the date 1799. The other, LC (Lee Conservancy) rebuilt 1913.
But the mystery is that this card, posted on August 15th 1905, clearly shows, apart from the original lock house in the foreground, the chimney and roof of the proposed building!
Then on 13th March 1924 a letter was received from Epping Rural District Council's Sanitary Inspector, Mr Beard : "The Netteswell Parish Council have called my attention to the conditions under which your employee Mr Puncher at the Lock-house, Burnt Mill, is living. As you are probably aware, there is only one room in which the man and his wife have to eat, sleep and do all the work in. The place is damp, there is no proper water supply and the closet is dilapidated. I hope your board will now put in place the proposed new cottage which I understand was contemplated some long time ago." Mr Tween comments "It will be remembered that Puncher was offered the Brick Lock cottage some time ago but refused it." (LMA ACC 2423/021)
LMA ACC 2423/P1949
The lock house was replaced by a modern bungalow in the 1960’s.
In 2007 a sculpture by Graeme Mitcheson "Short Stort Thoughts" was placed on the eastern side of the lock. Incorporating objects that relate directly to the canal such as fish, ropes and chains, this work uses a series of globe shapes to symbolise the link that the River Stort Navigation has historically provided between Harlow and the rest of the world.
Burnt Mill Lock House
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This site was last updated 27-May-2010
On 2nd December 1924, approval was given for the new,
less elaborate design of an extension to the lock cottage.
