The Mill Trail

History

The Mill Trail is a waymarked walk of up to 7 miles from Whitchurch station along the upper River Test, passing five historic water mills between Whitchurch and Laverstoke, three of them now homes. An older leaflet, which calls it one of three Basingstoke Heritage Trails, says a working mill once stood on the river every half mile through the town, and its interpretation panels describe the mills and other features on the way. A mill on the site of Town Mill was mentioned in Domesday Book; Town Mill milled corn until 1940 and became a private house in 1969. Bere Mill and Laverstoke Mill were paper mills owned by the Portal family from the early 18th century, and Laverstoke supplied the paper for Bank of England banknotes. The Silk Mill was bought in 1816 by the silk manufacturer William Maddick; when it faced closure in 1985 the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust bought it, and since 1990 the Whitchurch Silk Mill Trust has leased it and weaves silk there on the historic machinery as a working museum.

In 2022 the Whitchurch Conservation Group won a Test and Loddon LEADER grant of about £43,000 for rural tourism in the town. Part of it paid for new Mill Trail interpretation boards, cast iron fingerposts and video and audio about the trail, with help from Whitchurch Silk Mill, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and the Hampshire Cultural Trust; the group says the fingerposts have since passed to Whitchurch Town Council. The waymark is a blue disc with a dark arrow and the words 'Mill Trail' round the edge.