this was a paper mill. there were two mills here in the thirteenth century, separated by a ford that passed through the tail race of the upper mill. the upper mill was removed c.1300 and as a result the ford became deep and impassable. in 1303, henry de cobham built a bridge at his own cost to replace the ford. this was swept away by a storm in 1337 and thomas de cobham (his son), erected a footbridge in its place. the sheriff proceeded against thomas for not rebuilding the bridge in its original form, and the court agreed with the sheriff. the site was used at one time as a fulling mill. a picture of the mill c.1850 can be seen here. paper from chafford mills was used to print postage stamps for jamaica, the transvaal and the falkland islands. the mill closed in 1913 and was demolished in 1930. it was latterly driven by a turbine.