A friend asked for help identifying a building's purpose. From the photos and position it seemed likely to be a mill. I arranged a time to meet him and away we went for a closer look.
Definitely an old water-mill and with a surprise in store. First off, I don't know when it fell out of use but a steam powered mill was built close to it in the 1850's so it seems likely to have been around then. The building was gutted and much of the stone removed for use elsewhere. It also has the look of somewhere that was 'gardened'. Things about what's left don't make any sense unless it was partially landscaped and used for recreation after it fell out of use.
View towards mill and head-race
axle hole from headrace side
Tail-race
Overflow sluice from downstream side
Perfectly positioned 'abandoned' millstone
local gritstone
Main building interior (wheelhouse missing to the right)
The rather pleasant surprise was seeing a second axle hole with stonework visible inside.
Second axle hole
Time to crawl around in the mud and leaf litter
Blocked doorway to second head-race
Definitely an old water-mill and with a surprise in store. First off, I don't know when it fell out of use but a steam powered mill was built close to it in the 1850's so it seems likely to have been around then. The building was gutted and much of the stone removed for use elsewhere. It also has the look of somewhere that was 'gardened'. Things about what's left don't make any sense unless it was partially landscaped and used for recreation after it fell out of use.
View towards mill and head-race
axle hole from headrace side
Tail-race
Overflow sluice from downstream side
Perfectly positioned 'abandoned' millstone
local gritstone
Main building interior (wheelhouse missing to the right)
The rather pleasant surprise was seeing a second axle hole with stonework visible inside.
Second axle hole
Time to crawl around in the mud and leaf litter
Blocked doorway to second head-race
