Fire At The Mill

A Memory of Weybridge.

I grew up in Radnor Road where the small off-shoot of the Wey ran past our garden, we could see the back of the mill from the bottom of the garden.
I remember one night after we had gone to bed when I was about 10'ish, in the late 1950s early 1960s, my parents waking my brother and me up and taking us to this footpath in the picture to watch the mill (linseed oil mill) burning. It was completely gutted, I can remember the heat from the fire even though we had the river between us, the locals all standing around and us children thinking it was all very exciting.

I also remember being sent to the lock-keeper's shop to buy tea or sugar, it always seemed to be open.

This part of the Wey was our playground and I remember spending most of my childhood walking along this footpath and playing, being chased off by the lock-keeper when we tried to walk across the wooden plank he had across the lock.

There was a field on the other side of the bridge to the right (opposite the lock-keeper's cottage) and every year it was ablaze with red poppies, we used to sneak in and pick them.

Further along the footpath on the left (out of the picture) was the bridge that echoed, and being children, we couldn't resist using the echo to its full potential. I also remember the gate to Ham Court that was just by the little stream where it joined the Wey, and being chased out by Charlie Drake who lived in one of the houses there.