154 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



mills and their workings, it was of great interest to 

 me to wander about the place during the long sum- 

 mer evenings when the business of the day was 

 over, and in time I got to be very intimate with 

 the occupiers. 



The mill, like others I have known was built over 

 arches. Flounders and eels were the fish caught 

 below the mill, and in the streams and ponds above 

 it, trout, pike, carp, tench, and roach were abundant. 

 Angling clubs were not thought about at that time, 

 and the railway had not yet reached it, as it has 

 since done, waking up the folks a bit, and bringing 

 down proficient anglers by the score to fish in these 

 prolific waters. 



The place was far enough away from the tide 

 for the water to be brackish only. As the miller 

 said, it had only a " smatch " taste of the salt, 

 which did not prevent some very fine trout from 

 frequenting that tumbling bay. All these tidal 

 mills have histories, although you will rarely get 

 the owners or occupiers to talk about them. No 

 class as a rule are more reserved ; if one set of men 

 more than another have the blessed faculty of mind- 

 ing their own business and looking after it, millers 



