Bill C. beside the Ruscombe Brook at Puckshole

I was a little early for my visit to Whiteshill to meet John W., whom I hoped could help me adjust my monopod which needs tightening to stop its tubes slipping. So I took a slight diversion at Pagans Hill down the small valley road to Puckshole.

I had often meant to take some pictures of this tiny hamlet adjoining the Ruscombe Brook at the point where a mill and millpond were built in the 19th century. I parked where the road crossed the stream and immediately met Bill C. who was bringing some materials for recycling to the pick-up point. We engaged in a delightful conversation and Bill told me a lot of the local history in the few minutes we spent chatting. One of the interesting facts was that the row of cottages, which I've added a picture of in the 'Extra photos', was originally eleven cottages for workmen of Puckshole Mill. Now it is just two dwellings, with two of the cottages having been demolished as part of the relatively recent conversion process. Oh how life has changed, and no wonder there are so few houses for people to live in.

Bill has liked taking photos since he was a child and has what sounds like an interesting history of the local area, with a picture for instance of the farmer taking his herd of cows back to the farm for the last time before he sold up. I'd like to see that library.

As I'd enjoyed his company and charm I suddenly asked Bill if I could take his portrait and he readily agreed, although he felt his working clothes might not be suitable. I reassured him that they would be fine. Thank you very much, Bill, for posing for this blip, and I hope you get to see this picture. The house way back behind his left shoulder was the former mill owner's house, and the lawn in front of the cottages out of shot on the far right of the picture was the site of the millpond, providing the head of water to power the wheels.

From the British History Online website: (a very good digital source for local history): 
Puckshole Mill, at the point where the Randwick – Paganhill road crosses the Ruscombe brook,  was owned and occupied by Thomas Ellery in 1822 when it contained one stock, one gig, and other machinery. Before 1870 it belonged to Richard Barton, and the firm of Harman & Adey were making cloth there in 1871 when they went bankrupt. In the late 19th century, known as Vale Mill, it was worked as a corn-mill. It had ceased working by 1936, by which date the mill building, which adjoined the south-west corner of the surviving house, had been demolished. The house is a mid-18th-century building of stone with a brick front. A long row of 17th- or early 18th-century stone cottages on the west side of the old mill-pond may have once housed employees.