Shalford Mill

Shalford Mill stands over the Tillingbourne stream near Guildford, a timber-framed, tile-hung watermill built around 1750. It was the first gift to the National Trust from Ferguson's Gang, a group of well-educated, eccentric young women who formed in 1927, raised large sums to save threatened buildings and countryside, and held their meetings around the millstone on the first floor; the mill passed to the Trust in 1932. The machinery no longer turns but is well preserved: a pitwheel 9ft across made in Guildford, probably in the 1830s, line shafting that carried power to every floor, an oat crusher, and graffiti dating from 1935 on the lime-washed walls. Reviewers praise the volunteer guides for their detailed, expert tours. The mill is currently closed for essential conservation works, and the Trust offers a virtual walkthrough online in the meantime. There is no visitor parking at the mill apart from disabled spaces and no toilet on site; Shalford station is a ten-minute walk away.