A Bit of History

The Big Brother house and studio's are located at East London's Three Mills Island Studios. The complex has become a Mecca for fans of the show, who flock in their droves for a glimpse of the high security compound.

The site however, is steeped in history. The Big Brother phenomenon is just the latest historical event to have taken place in the manor.

Here are 10 facts from the rich tapestry of its past:

1/ King Alfred made the River Lea the first frontier of England dividing Danelaw, the area of the studios and everything to the east, from London and Wessex.

2/ The Domesday Book recorded that there were nine mills here in 1066, eight in 1087. Two survive in 2000.

3/ Piers Plowman, the poem by William Langland describes riots in London when the bread carts failed to arrive from the 'mills of Statford atte Bowe'.

4/ For most of the middle ages the mills belonged to Stratford Langthorne Abbey, the remains of which lie beneath the new Jubilee Line train depot.

5/ Sir Peter de Mewtas bought the Mills from the Crown when the monasteries were dissolved.

6/ In 1776, Huguenot merchant Daniel Bisson bought the house mill to grind barley to make gin.

7/ The present Clock Mill was built in 1812. But the Clock Tower was standing beside an earlier wooden mill as early as 1800.

8/ Three Mills was purchased in the mid 1800s by the Nicholson family. Its dry London gin became the preferred brand in London Clubs.

9/ A tragedy occurred early in World War I when the eldest Nicholson son died trying to rescue workers, overcome by foul air in one of the artesian wells that supplied Three Mills with fresh water. A similar well can be seen below the floor in the Clock Mill restaurant.

10/ Chief chemist at the distillery in World War I was Chaim Weitzman, who discovered how to make acetone from alcohol. The chemical was vital for producing explosives and a pilot plant was built at Three Mills. Weitzman freely gave the process to the Government. And in 1917, the Balfour Declaration gave British support to a new State of Israel. Weitzman later became the first President of Israel.

Compiled by Brian Daubney

Big Brother is a Bazal production for Channel 4.