36 



OLD WEST SURREY 



— the pleasant smell, the light dimmed by the floating floury 

 particles — all these sights and sounds and impressions make a 

 water corn-mill a place where the imagination is stimulated to 

 something akin to a poetical apprehension of the ways of the 

 older industries that have gone on almost unchanged for a 

 thousand years. 



The mere fact of the change of level, the building stand- 



Granary and Waggon-Shed 



ing on the higher ground on the side of the pond-head, with 

 the quiet expanse of water, and coming down below 

 to within a few feet of the level of the rushing tail-race ; 

 necessitating some kind of steps outside; this in itself com- 

 pels the builder to ways of treatment that can scarcely fail to 

 have pictorial value. And when these old places were built, 

 and the builder of each mill used the material to his hand in 

 the local way, just enriching it here and there by some simple 



