The Walthamstow Copper Mill was previously a corn mill, gunpowder mill, paper mill, leather mil and crushed linseed for oil!
Only after all that did it become the Walthamstow Copper Mill!
The Copper Mill on Coppermill Stream is adjacent to the East Warwick Reservoir in the LB Waltham Forest part of the Lea Valley Park. A mill has stood here since the earliest times and utilised for various industries.
A watermill was in existence here by the 14th century, when it ground corn. Gunpowder was made during the 17th century and the vicinity was at the time known as Powdermill Marsh. Thereafter, the mill successively produced paper, leather (presumably grinding bark here to yield tannin) and linseed oil.
Around 1806, the mill was rebuilt out of London stock brick with Portland stone dressings. The original roof has also since been replaced.
The mill was purchased by a Copper Company in 1808 and the smelted copper was brought to the mill from Landore, Swansea, Wales via the Thames by barge, and the Lee Navigation.
The ingots were rolled into sheets and used to produce penny and halfpenny tokens. Production ceased in 1857.
There was an undershot waterwheel, which drove a pair of 400mm diameter rollers through bevel gearing.
In 1859 the mill was acquired by the East London Waterworks Co and the Italianate tower was added in 1864 to accommodate a Cornish Bull engine to assist in the building of the Walthamstow reservoirs on nearby marshland.
The first reservoir opened to the north of the mill in 1863. There are now a dozen, covering 300 acres and serving 1.5 million customers – as well as forming one of London’s biggest fisheries. The Copper Mill Stream runs through the middle of the reservoirs.
Nowadays, the Copper Mill is used as stores and most of the vicinity is occupied by Thames Water’s filter beds and pumping stations, which replaced the Lea Bridge waterworks in 1972. Water from the New River arrives here after its journey south through Hertfordshire and the water treatment works is a major supplier to the London ring water main.
The surrounding fields are now a nature reserve, wedged between the railway line and the western edge of the waterworks. There is also a Copper Mill play park!
The Walthamstow Copper Mill was previously a corn mill, gunpowder mill, paper mill, leather mil and crushed linseed for oil!
Only after all that did it become the Walthamstow Copper Mill!
The Copper Mill on Coppermill Stream is adjacent to the East Warwick Reservoir in the LB Waltham Forest part of the Lea Valley Park. A mill has stood here since the earliest times and utilised for various industries.
A watermill was in existence here by the 14th century, when it ground corn. Gunpowder was made during the 17th century and the vicinity was at the time known as Powdermill Marsh. Thereafter, the mill successively produced paper, leather (presumably grinding bark here to yield tannin) and linseed oil.
Around 1806, the mill was rebuilt out of London stock brick with Portland stone dressings. The original roof has also since been replaced.
The mill was purchased by a Copper Company in 1808 and the smelted copper was brought to the mill from Landore, Swansea, Wales via the Thames by barge, and the Lee Navigation.
The ingots were rolled into sheets and used to produce penny and halfpenny tokens. Production ceased in 1857.
There was an undershot waterwheel, which drove a pair of 400mm diameter rollers through bevel gearing.
In 1859 the mill was acquired by the East London Waterworks Co and the Italianate tower was added in 1864 to accommodate a Cornish Bull engine to assist in the building of the Walthamstow reservoirs on nearby marshland.
The first reservoir opened to the north of the mill in 1863. There are now a dozen, covering 300 acres and serving 1.5 million customers – as well as forming one of London’s biggest fisheries. The Copper Mill Stream runs through the middle of the reservoirs.
Nowadays, the Copper Mill is used as stores and most of the vicinity is occupied by Thames Water’s filter beds and pumping stations, which replaced the Lea Bridge waterworks in 1972. Water from the New River arrives here after its journey south through Hertfordshire and the water treatment works is a major supplier to the London ring water main.
The surrounding fields are now a nature reserve, wedged between the railway line and the western edge of the waterworks. There is also a Copper Mill play park!
