NEWPORT HAD ITS OWN TIDE MILL

Research among the archives of 18th century Newport Corporation has revealed the site of a previously unrecorded water mill. The evidence suggests it was a tide mill, bringing the total number of known Island tide mills to seven.

Tidemill Map

A lease dated 1728 makes reference to the mill and it appears on a map later in the century. It was set up on Borough land in an area which now approximates to the site of the Riverside Cafe. There was no harbour wall at this time but the river was banked. The precise position of the mill remains uncertain. The impracticality of a Medina dam at that point and the absence a useful stream suggests it was a tide mill.

There were two tide mills further down the River Medina. Others were at St Helens, Wootton, Yarmouth and Afton. The rivers, creeks and estuaries along the Island's northern coast were particularly suited to tide mills, so there were doubtless others further back in time.

Tide mills operated by allowing water to flow into large mill ponds, controlled by lock-type gates or flap valves. Once the tide had ebbed water was let out through sluice gates to drive the wheel. The tidal flow limited working periods but this did not deter their use and they were widely distributed by the 12th century.

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