Knysna's Old Sawmill

It stood on the site of the original old sawmill, The Knysna Steam Saw-mills, established in 1875 by William Lloyd of Port Elizabeth. Lloyd imported a 16HP ransome portable engine and boiler with frame and saw, saw bench and corn mill, which were of-loaded from the small 99 ton schooner Hettie. Untill then all timber from the Knysna forests had been worked manually.

The mill changed hands and was re-named The Knysna Forest Company, and later, Geo Parkes & Sons, when bought by Birmingham tool manufacturer, George Parkes, who was the first exporter of Kamassie, or boxwood, to England for the making of bobbins. He also manufactured wagon parts and a variety of tool handles.After a century of saw-milling, the mill whistle blew for the last time in December 1984 when the entire operation was transferred to the Industrial area of Knysna where work continued from the beginning of 1985 with the minimum delay.

The old saw-mill buildings were bought by the Melville Development Company and converted into the Woodmill Lane Shopping complex which opened in 1990. The 1919 saw-mill building was retained and the yellowwood salvaged from the sheds was re-cycled and used in the shop fronts. The art nouveau styled windows used in the original offices were repeated in the complex, as were the circular ventilators. The furniture showroom of Geo. Parkes & Sons was built in 1939 with stinkwood entrance door and window surrounds. These were retained and it is now occupied by Telkom.

The saw-mill operated off its own power, burning sawdust and waste which was taken by conveyor belt to the Boiler House. You can see one of the steam engines used in their power station, a Beliss and Morcom triple expansion engine, brightly painted, standing outside Telkom. This was purchased by Geo. Parkes & Sons from Grahamstown Municipality in 1956. At the west end of the walkway is another steam engine, a double expansion, twin cyclinder engine, supplied by Hubert Davies. In the south-west corner is a Swedish made Asea generator.

Halfway along the walkway on the right-hand side you can see the rounded gable above what was the main entrance to the saw-mill with the name "Geo. Parkes & Sons Ltd. Timber Merchants 1919." The open circle originally housed a clock. Opposite this was the Boiler House, Power Station and chimney standing south of the Boiler House.