This view, which looks over the top of the London - Portsmouth railway line, is from Westbrook and New Way towards the former flour mill on Mill Lane. It was operated by a large water wheel whose mill pond is shown in the foreground. Behind the Mill are the backs of some of the properties on Mill Lane itself.

At the time this picture was taken the Mill was run by the brothers George (1848-1916) and Samuel Allden (1854-1941), sons of the farmer George Allden of Lower Eashing. In "Memories of Farncombe and Godalming" Harold Pitt mentions the Allden's and discusses their business:

"Some time before the turn of the century a firm of corn and seed merchants, known as Allden Bros, composed of a number of partners (which included my father) decided to extend their operations to include flour milling. They took Hatch Mill and Ockford Mill ... Both these mills were grist mills for coarse grinding. Alldens converted them to flour mills. It was, of course, stone ground in those days. ... About 1910 Alldens decided that they would relinquish their milling operations, returning to corn merchanting only. Hatch Mill was taken over by J. C. Withers and was converted back to a grist mill"^[1].

This is borne out by the trade directories of the time^[2]. The Allden family had been in the Godalming area for several centuries. When Miss Elizabeth Allden, a sister of George and Samuel, was buried at Shackleford in 1935 it was said that the only surviving member of the Allden family remaining in the town was Mr. Samuel Allden of Headley Lodge. Samuel had been the head of Allden Bros., corn merchants, of Guildford and Godalming^[3].

Mr. Pitt senior's connection to the Allden's was also recalled in an obituary following his death, aged 83, in 1955^[4].

The pond was sometimes mistreated by outsiders. In the autumn of 1891 PC Steel was in New Way when he heard splashes in the direction of Mr Samuel Allden's pond; when he reached it he discovered one Albert Chalcraft and his night cart. The following day Chalcraft, who had been employed by the scavenging contractors Marchant and Jarrett, confessed to throwing the liquid from some of the closets on the Mint into the pond, but nothing else. He was dismissed from his job, although not fined by the courts because he was suddenly without an income. Mr. Allden stated that such antics had been going on for a number of years and he wanted it to stop. Unfortunately, he had complained two or three years previously, but it had continued^[5]. The court was going to contact the scavengers to resolve the issue, so presumably this disgusting habit was stopped.

The mill is now offices (shown above, right): you can see the building's steeply pitched roof on the left of the postcard. The large mill pool was filled in over 50 years ago; it is now a car park. There is another modern photo of Hatch Mill on the page about Godalming, Surrey

References:

^[1] "Memories of Farncombe and Godalming" (1981), The Godalming Trust, (ed) David Coombs. Principal written contributions by Harold Pitt and Raymond Martin. See: Flour Mills, Leather Mills and Farmers.

^[2] Kelly's Directory of 1891 shows Allden Bros. millers (water), Mill ln [lane] whereas Kelly's Directory of 1913 has Allden Brothers, corn merchants, Railway approach.

^[3] "West Sussex Gazette", 25 April 1935. The Allden family had lived in West Surrey from 1600 and Samuel had been the head of Allden Bros., corn merchants, of both Guildford and Godalming.

^[4] "West Sussex Gazette", 3 March 1955. Harold Pitt had lived Hare Lane and had partner in the firm of Allden Bros., corn and seed merchants, of Station-approach. For about 60 years be was a well-known figure at markets in Surrey and Hampshire.

^[5] "Surrey Advertiser", 14 September 1891. A Sanitary Offence.