Grade II-listed Ockham Mill is one of the largest former mill houses on the River Wey in Surrey. It was once part of the Ockham estate of William King, 8th Lord King, who inherited the family home, Ockham Park, in 1833.
He married Ada Byron, the only legitimate child of the romantic poet, who brought with her not only a vast fortune, but a useful family contact in her cousin, Lord Melbourne, whose influence saw King created 1st Earl of Lovelace in 1838 and, in 1840, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey. The house is now for sale through Knight Frank in Cobham and Seymours in Woking at a guide price of £3.5m,
Lord Lovelace marked his arrival on the county scene by buying the nearby East Horsley estate and any land, house or cottage that came on the market in the surrounding villages. In 1862, he built Ockham Mill of red and black brick in the ‘Lovelace’ neo-Romanesque style. It continued to operate until the 1920s and still has a working water wheel and much of the original gearing.
In 1958, Ockham Mill was offered for sale by Knight, Frank & Rutley as part of the 4,984-acre Ockham Park Estate.
In 2015, its present owners undertook a sympathetic restoration that included the reinstatement of the fifth floor, with the addition of two bedrooms with high timbered ceilings. In all, the mill has more than 5,700sq ft of living space, including the mill room, the wheel room, a study, garage and wine cellar on the ground floor; a living room, dining room, sun room and kitchen/breakfast room on the first floor; and six large bedrooms on the three floors above.
The impressively converted building is located on a private road in a hamlet a mile or so from the village of Ripley. The house stands in 2½ acres of delightful gardens and grounds that are a haven for wildlife and include a large fish-filled lake fed by the Wey and five islands accessible by bridges.
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