Sitting in the Meon Valley, the town of Wickham is a popular tourist attraction in Hampshire, with a picturesque town square and many fascinating old buildings in the narrow streets. The Chesapeake Mill sits at the bottom of a small hill near a stream.
From inside the mill, the roar of the river can be heard, it’s really quite eerie, and powerful.
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The building is widely believed to be one of the finest examples of re-used warship timber outside the Royal Dockyards themselves and the structure is now a Grade II Listed (preserved) Building. The current leaseholders of the Mill are very respectful of the history of their site and although the interior of the Mill is currently occupied by several small vendors selling antique or luxury goods, the fabric of the building itself is immaculately preserved.
In one area of the mill, there are displays on the walls detailing the history of the USS Chesapeake along with depictions of her battles, as you can see here.
There are also pictures of the Mill itself from days gone past.
But of course it is the timbers themselves which are of most interest, and throughout the interior of the building, one can see that the structure is built from salvaged materials.
Large cut-outs in the supporting beams show the signs of previous uses – these notches and holes would have been used to support other timbers in the construction of the ship.
Planks used as flooring such as can be seen here might have been used on the decks of USS Chesapeake, or as cladding for her hull.
Although the exterior of the construction is brick, most if not all of the internal timberwork comes from the Chesapeake, including these lintels.
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