The Nagles Creek Tidal Watermill
aka Mill Creek, Nagle Creek, Millbight, Singleton's Mill
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This first tidal flour mill that James Singleton established in the Wisemans Ferry area was built on portion 26 in the Parish of Frederick. The original grant of this land to James Singleton stated that it covered 10 acres, but later plans show that this portion actually is more than 13 acres in size.
A creek runs along the northern boundary of this portion of land. At the time the mill was built, the creek was called Mill Creek, but it was renamed Nagle Creek after Catherine Nagle, a later owner of the land.
Description of mill
Little information has survived about this mill. However, all early parish maps of the area, that we have seen, mark the location of the 'Old Mill Dam" at the south-eastern corner of the 10 acre property on the Hawkesbury River.
Above: an old parish map showing the land granted to James Singleton at Nagles Creek. The position of the 'Old Mill Dam' is shown.
The tidal water flow from the river would have been caught in a dam at this location and used to power a waterwheel.
Above: a view taken by Les Dollin in 2007 of the mown grassy area where we think the mill was built. The opening to the 'Old Mill Dam' would have been on the far right.
In an advertisement for this land much later, in the Sydney Morning Herald on 14 February 1854, the property was called 'Millbight'.
History of mill
This mill must have been built prior to 1820 because a Memorial to the Governor written by the Singleton brothers in that year states that the mill had already been 'created'.
On 10 September 1820, Benjamin and James Singleton wrote a Memorial to Governor Macquarie, stating:
"The Humble Memorial of Benjamin Singleton and James Singleton respectfully showeth …having created two water-mills on Crown Lands, one at Kurrajong, the other opposite the lower branch of the Hawkesbury … beg to remind you of a promise to confirm a proportion of lands on which such mills stand."
As a result of this Memorial, the Singleton brothers were granted ten acres of crown land at the site of each mill. In the ten acre grant document that James Singleton finally received on 11 June 1841 for the land at Nagles Creek, it states that he was promised this grant on 30 September 1821.
Above: the formal land grant issued to James Singleton in 1841 for the ten acres at Nagles Creek where he built his watermill.
On 23 June 1823, 'J. Singleton's Mill' is also mentioned in the description of land granted to Solomon Wiseman.
Further Reading
• The Wisemans Ferry Mills • Dillons Creek Mill • Laybury Creek Mill