The Mill Pond and Water Supply

Although the mill pond still survives, New Hall Mill lost the water supply from the Ebrook into the mill pond when a river realignment was undertaken. In 1969 - 1971 parts of the Ebrook were diverted to a new watercourse to prevent flooding problems in Sutton Coldfield. Unfortunately it also stopped the flow from the Ebrook into the mill pond.

The water supply to the mill is now limited to some springs around New Hall and local land runoff and drainage into the remaining length of the original leat.

You can see the Mill Pond at low water in the photo above. The water at the mill end of the pond is retained by outer layers of walling, from old limestone rubble to modern blocks and bricks. Within that wall, there is an inner barrier consisting of a wooden palisade fence against which there is a bank of puddle clay. You can see the palisade to the right of our resident egret in the picture above.

This is how the Mill Pond looks when full:

And here it is at low water. You can see an egret on the right!

As the water supply is limited and erratic, a recirculation system enables the mill to operate on Open Days. We recover the water from the waterwheel in a concrete tank located in the original tailrace. Here you can see the tank below the mill when empty. We often have tiny stickleback fish in the tank - it must give them quite a surprise when they are pumped up to the mill pond! There is a narrow wooden slope in the tank so that any ducks who drop in to explore can safely find their way out.

We then pump the water back up to the mill pond. In the next photo you can see the pumped water discharging back into the mill pond.