Rebuilding Bere Mill. Chalenges and rewards

Bere Mill to the east of Whitchurch is an ancient mill site recorded in Domesday. A number of mills have stood there over the years: most recently a mill built in 1708 which was rented to the Portal family who used it to make cloth based paper. Portals built the worlds leading bank note supplier from this humble base. The original property changed little over the years and was converted to residential use in the 1990s. It was then destroyed by fire in February 2018.

The loss has been followed by a careful and through reconstruction. The current owners will describe how they dealt with disaster in restoring the mill complex to its original form with traditional materials and building methods; as also the restoring of their collections of furniture, books, pictures, and jewellery.

The talk will describe the regulatory framework (Planning and insurance) and where it worked and failed… but will largely focus on the skill and craft base in the community and how these resources were mobilised to help in this multi task effort. The tone will be celebratory of the wonderful skills that exist in British society and which are too rarely called upon in use!

Timings & Tours

Thursday 12 September:

1400

Location & directions

Bere Mill Farm, London Road, Whitchurch, Hampshire, RG28 7NH

Contact on day:

RupertNabarro

Telephone number:

+447703161074

Booking information

Pre-booking requirement:

Pre-booking preferred

Booking conditions:

Please book your tickets via the ticketsource website below.

Booking website:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/hampshire-history-trust

Booking opens:

15 Jul 2024 12:00 AM

Additional information

The event will comprise a talk by the owner who undertook the reconstruction plus a tour of the building. Within the 2 hours there will be a 40 minutes lecture, 30 minutes inspection of works, 50 minutes tea and refreshments and garden visit.

Max no of people per tour:

100

Est. tour duration:

2 hour(s)

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