The site is thought to be that of the former overshot wheel paper mill at Bushy Ruff built by William Knocker (1761 - 1847) c. 1794. The mill closed in the 1850s. The original layout of the mill is unknown and little is known about it although a diagram drawn in 1825, when the tithe map records that Knocker mill was the ocupier of the land, shows the layout at that time. (1)

In 1799 Hasted described that there were three paper mills along the River Dour and that one of the mills had been recently built "situated near Kearsney or Castney Court, but in the Alkham parish [and that it] may be assumed to have been Bushey Ruff and that, as it was not included in the 1792 directory, it may have been erected between 1792 and 1799". (3)

The mill is shown on Greenwoods map of Kent published in 1821 and an entry in "Bonythons Dover Guide" published in 1823. Bonython describes "on another branch of the river to the left is a paper mill belonging to William Knocker". Further references appear throughout the C19 the mill being called "a miserable place" in 1815. It appears that the mill continued to produce paper until its close. It is thought that production finally ceased in 1858 and the mill was demolished. (1)

10.5 ha. of the original mill pond has been landscaped by Dover District Council and is open to the public as part of Bushy Ruff House and park but nothing remains of the C.19 layout. (3) The only surviving buildings, the stables and a drying room, now form part of the complex known as The Stables, a private residence. (2)

<1> Outside the Mill, 2015, Buckland Mill, Dover, Kent. Papermaking on the River Dour., http://www.bucklandmill.webspace.virginmedia.com/six_mills/bushey_ruff.htm (Website). SKE31464.

<2> Dover District Council, 2013, Dover District Heritage Strategy, Dour Mills, 10.82 (Bibliographic reference). SKE31372.

<3> Kent Gardens Trust, 2013?, Bushy Ruff (or Rough) (Unpublished document). SKE31466.