Dorlcote Mill

Dorlcote Mill,The "Mill on the Floss". "And this is Dorlcote Mill . . . Even in this leafless time of departing February it is pleasant to look at—perhaps the chill damp season adds a charm to the trimly kept, comfortable dwelling-house, as old as the elms and chestnuts that shelter it from the northern blast. The stream is brimful now, and lies high in this little withy plantation, and half drowns the grassy fringe of the croft in front of the house." It had been the property of the Tullivers for five generations, but Mr. Tulliver loses it as a result of his many law-suits. When it then passes into the hands of Lawyer Wakem, his enemy, Mr. Tulliver continues as manager. When it is purchased by Guest & Co. some years after Mr. Tulliver's death, Tom Tulliver becomes its manager and it is from the Mill that Maggie rescues Tom in her row boat before both are drowned in the swollen Floss. A mill on the Trent (the "Floss") a short distance north of Gainsborough has been claimed as the original of Dorlcote Mill, but the description does not fit this, although it does fit, with considerable exactness, an old mill near George Eliot's childhood home at Griff. It is probably that she had this second mill in mind and moved it, in the novel, to the Trent, i.e. the "Floss". (See Olcott, George Eliot, pp. 76-7.) The description of some parts of the house, the attic, at least, was taken form George Eliot's childhood home, Griff House. (See Andrews, Bygone Warwickshire, p. 266).

<em>The Mill on the Floss</em>

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