THESE stunning shots show how time has stood still in a mill dating back to the 1500s.

Bourne Mill, just outside Old Heath, Colchester, was built as a fishing lodge in 1591. The Grade I listed building hides a lengthy history and the mill is not the first to have stood on the man made pond.

Historical evidence suggests the site goes back more than 1,000 years, mentioned in 1120 as Bournemill and Ponds in the Colchester court rolls, when it was part of the endowment of St John’s Abbey.

Fish was an important part of a monk’s diet and a good fishpond near the abbey would have been seen as essential.

The building remained as a fishing lodge until around 1640 when it was fitted out as a fulling cloth mill and run by Flemish refugees.

It was converted back to a corn mill in about 1840 and made flour until the 1930s.

Its most prominent feature is the 18ft circumference working water wheel.

To find out more visit nationaltrust.org.uk/bourne-mill.