Mitcham Common windmill, London

The Mill House. Mill House is one of the few houses ever to be built on the common. There has been a house on the site since 1806 when Miller John Blake Barker was granted permission to erect a windmill on half an acre of newly enclosed land. Built during the Napoleonic Wars, when flour was expensive, the tenancy was granted on condition that Miller John Blake Barker "grind the grist of the inhabitants of Mitcham on two days every week for ever at a 'fair and reasonable price'".

The windmill was in constant use until 1862 when, during a storm, it was struck by lightning and two of the sails were destroyed thus ending the working life of the mill. It was finally dismantled down to its base in 1905.

The existing house was built in 1860 and was originally known as "Mill Cottage" and "Windmill Cottage" until 1890 when due to considerable extension it was renamed "Mill House". It was occupied by the Watson family from 1861 to 1936. The house was subsequently sold and used as a home for girls as well as a Creamery and for packing biscuits.

In 1950 it was acquired by Mitcham Corporation to be used as a Youth Centre but instead the house was divided into 3 flats and the outbuildings used by the Parks Department.

In 1994 the site was purchased by Whitbread Plc., and the existing 'original house' developed and extended to form a Brewers Fayre Public House. A new Ecology Centre was also built by Whitbread Plc., to house the Micham Common Conservators and provide changing facilities for local sports clubs.