Don't get your feet wet while looking for this sneaky little cache
LOCAL INFORMATION
Mills at Coultershaw
There have been mills on this site since early time.The first mill was presented to Shulbrede Priory by William de Percy in 1239. In 1534 there were two corn mills and a malting mill. A fire gutted the mill in 1923. John Gwillim, the miller who had leased the old mill since 1907, rebuilt it in steel and concrete with new machinery driven by two vertical-shaft turbines. It was a pretty ugly building that was demolished in 1973 when the mill became too uneconomical to run.
The Beam Pump
A waterwheel-driven pump was installed alongside the corn mill in 1782 to supply water to Petwroth House and town. It was an expensive machine capable of delivering "a hoghead a minute" (52 1/2 gallons or 239 litres). A cast iron pipe, 3 inches wide and 1 1/2 miles long, piped water into two cisterns. The cistern at Petworth Park still exists. The pump supplied the house until 1960.
Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society started the restoration in 1976, by kind permission of Lord Egremont. The pump is believed to be the 1782 original, but the present iron waterwheel was cast by Robert Chorley at Cocking Ironworks in the mid-19th Century. The pipe to the house has been dirverted to a fountain just outside the pump house so everyone can see it working.
The Archimedes Screw Water Turbine
In 2012 a 15kW Archimedes Screw water turbine was installed in the wheel pit of the old corn mill. This generates clean energy from a renewable source which is sold to the National Grid
OPENING TIMES
The grounds are open to the public to take a self-guided walk.
If you'd like to see all of the pumps in action you'll need to visit on an open day, for which there is a small charge that supports the continued work of the Trust in maintaining and restoring the site. Visit the website to find out when the site is open.
TRAVELLING SUSTAINABLY
You can cycle to this geocache, access to the area is via the A285 which is a moderately busy road, please take care.
PERMISSION
Cache placed with kind permission from the Coultershaw Beam Pump Trust