The Abandoned Village Of Tide Mills, East Sussex

[Coast]

Tide Mills is a derelict abandoned village in East Sussex, It lies about 2.5 miles north west of Seaford

The village consisted of a large tide mill and numerous workers' cottages, housing about 100 workers, a shop and a blacksmiths. The tide mill at Bishopstone was erected in 1761 by the Duke of Newcastle, and was later owned and operated by William Catt and his family. The Sussex Archaeological Society started a long-term project in April 2006 to record the entire East Beach site: Mills, Railway Station, Nurses Home, Hospital, RNAS Station and the later holiday homes and the Marconi Radio station (1904). Apart from the dig, it will evolve into a huge collection of film, video, recollections and photographs logging the decline of the area.

The mill stopped in around 1900, the village was condemned as unfit for habitation in 1936 with the last residents forcibly removed in 1939. The area was in part cleared to give fields of fire and also used for street fighting training. The site was not used for target practice by Newhaven Fort Artillery, though this story is common locally. The area accommodated vast numbers of Canadian troops during the Second World War. There are still the the remains of a station on the Newhaven to Seaford line.

Although the mill disappeared the village continued to be occupied until 1940. Today it is difficult to pick out the remains of dwellings among the ruins that still exist. The only house that can be clearly identified is Station House, occupied by the stationmaster, at the northern end of the village near the railway line. At the southern end of the village there was a row of houses, numbers 8 to 13. They faced the mill across Mill Drove, the main road through the village. People living in these houses were particularly proud of the lattice porches outside their front doors. Another row of houses lay close to the public footpath that runs between Newhaven and Seaford, and there were about three other houses scattered around the village.

At the time of the census in 1911 15 households were recorded at Tide Mills, with a total population of 75

During the First World War a seaplane base was established close to Tide Mills, with two hangars at the top of the shingle beach. Officers were accommodated at Mill House, and for other staff temporary buildings were erected on stilts above the shingle.

After the war these buildings continued to be used as holiday accommodation, and were supplemented by a number of railway carriages.

This is how it looks today:

[EML Network]

WOW !!

That made for enjoyable reading, I had no idea of the existance of this, thank you, might actually take the kids down there for a visit