Geograph - photograph every grid square

TQ4890 : Mill Farm, Whalebone Lane North: 1997 In 1839, there was a record of a six-storey (plus fan-stage) octagonal mill at Marks Gate, said to be the tallest in Essex which, with its house, yard and garden was occupied by Thomas Bigg and owned by George Colegate, who also owned the Roebuck inn nearby. There were several changes in ownership, but by 1845 the miller was William Drake who was succeeded by 1874 by William Drake junior. William Drake remained the miller's name until at least 1905 when the owner was a William Ernest Drake. Ernest had been the name of the elder (aged 18) of the miller's two sons at the census of 1851 (the younger aged 14 was named Peter). Bread was baked in a large brick oven, heated bywood burned in the oven itself, which had to be swabbed out before the dough was put in, and loaves were delivered around the hamlets of Marks Gate and Collier Row, to Chigwell Row village and the scattered farms and cottages around about. The mill fell into disrepair around the 1890s but continued to stand for another forty years. By 1910 the Drakes had departed, the occupier was Christopher Turner and the owner's name was Elkington.

My paternal great grandmother, Mary Ann (1849-1921) was the daughter of William and Maria (both born in 1823). She married Washington Baker in 1876.
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