Martin Hardie, The Mill, Houghton, c1940. V&A Museum, London.
Praise of the beauty of this seventeenth-century mill or of its setting is made unnecessary by Mr. Hardie’s picture, wherein is neither flattery nor omission.
The village of Houghton, midway between St. Ives and Huntingdon, is a small one; yet the mill, little more than a hundred yards from the centre, has to be inquired for and sought out in its secluded position. It is one of a long line of mills standing here beside the Huntingdonshire Ouse, the first – or the first to be mentioned – having been presented by Earl Ailwin(1) to Ramsey Abbey(2) at its foundation in 969.
The existing house is three-storied, with attics above, and the timber frame is boarded over. During the nineteenth century the property was owned by Messrs. Potto Brown(3) and Joseph Goodman(4), millers and philanthropists of note, and it continued to be worked by their descendants until well into the present century. Now it is used by the Youth Hostels Association(5), a happy arrangement which keeps the old place occupied and provides selected holiday-makers with long and innocent hours spent in flogging the stream. According to the rules of this attractive organization, youth begins at nine and then stays for good.
Recording Britain, Vol 2, Huntingdonshire, p 104-105
Image: Martin Hardie, C.B.E.
Text: Arnold Nottage Palmer
1. Æthelwine (Ailwyn, died 992) was Ealdorman of East Anglia and one of the leading noblemen in the kingdom of England in the later 10th century. The principal historical source of his life is Byrhtferth of Ramsey’s The Lives of St Oswald and St Ecgwine (Oxford Medieval Texts, 2008). Byrhtferth was one of the most learned scholars of late Anglo-Saxon England.
2. Ramsey Abbey, dedicated to Our Lady, St Benedict and all Holy Virgins, was the first of the great religious houses in Eastern Fenland to be founded and in its time one of the most important, influential and wealthiest Abbey in the Fens. In its heyday it was home to at least 80 monks. It was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. For an in-depth history of the Abbey see Clive Beeke’s wonderfully insightful website.
3. Potto Brown (1797-1871) was a 19th-century miller and non-conformist philanthropist, who ran Houghton Mill from 1821 to 1862. For a detailed look at Brown’s life, see Potto Brown: The Village Philanthropist (Albert Goodman, ed. St Ives, 1878).
4. Joseph Goodman (d1844) was Brown’s business partner, a fellow miller and non-conformist. They attended the same school in St Ives and worked together until Goodman’s death in 1844.
5. The Youth Hostel Association left in 1983 and the Mill is now owned and run by the National Trust. It continues to operate and produce flour to this day.
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