Watch House (The)

The following notes are taken from a paper on the history of the Powder Mills given to the Society by Margaret Spender in January 2020.

The present Watch House was originally two hut-like brick buildings of about equal size.  One of these was the watchman’s shelter and the other the “mess”.  They were separated by a gap of about eight feet, and in 1950, the two buildings were joined so that this gap was made into the entrance, a lobby and a kitchen.  The bathroom was once the coal bunker.  An addition to the back of the original structure has provided another long room; this also brought the original outside toilet inside.  The gardens were originally a rough uncultivated field crossed by mud paths sloping down to the river.  The lawn has been levelled and the soil piled back to form the present day terrace.  The then owners Mr and Mrs Small, both of whose families had fled Russia during the 1917 revolution carried out much of this work.  The Watch House was the subject of an article in “Homes and Gardens” in its November 1960 edition.

 

Joyce Field (Feb 2020)