Tanlaw Mill was the Town Mill and occupies the site of an ancient mill mentioned in The Doomsday Book. The doomsday book meticulously records the residents (and number of ploughs) in Buckingham and the surrounding villages. The book also suggests that Buckingham had enough land to support more people.
Mills were required to grind corn, but Town Mill appears to have been multipurpose, with Jeffrey’s Map of 1770 describing the mill as a fulling (cloth) mill. This is backed up by a date stone in one corner, WK 1782, which refers to William King, a miller and dyer. By the late 19th century it was recorded as a corn mill again. It was purchased by the University of Buckingham in 1981.
Digital image of the Doomsday book © Crown Copyright, with permission from the National Archives.