Lowcross Mill

Lowcross Mill is a water-powered corn mill, likely dating to 1769 or earlier, with significant alterations and extensions in the 18th and 19th centuries, built on a site with a long history of milling. The internal machinery is probably late 18th century, with some late 19th-century cast iron replacements. The building is constructed from ashlar sandstone and brown brick, although the roof has partially collapsed, with sections of cast iron remaining.

The mill is two storeys and an attic, with some upper floor collapse. It has three bays. The north side features a sandstone and brick wheel-bay with a segmental-arched opening for the tail-race. The central bay is brick-fronted, featuring a timber-lintelled cart opening, from which the doors have been removed. The southern bay is a later brick storage bay with a blocked doorway, a casement window missing its glass, and a three-light oak-mullioned window with broken glass. The wheel and mill bays’ collapsed roof sections have gables with a nearly 45° pitch, including a damaged oak truss. The storage bay’s upper floors and lower-pitched roof structure remain intact. The north gable end has windows with removed glass to the storey above the wheel-chamber and another window opening to the attic. The south gable end has a central loading door on each storey, flanked by blocked window openings, with a blocked doorway in between.

The ground level rises significantly at the rear (east), revealing a penstock opening, a damaged doorway to the second storey of the mill bay, and a window opening to the storage bay. Flush quoins are visible at the south-east corner of the lower part of the mill bay, where the storage bay projects slightly. A short chimney stands above the kiln hearth.

Inside, a kiln hearth and chimney are located at the south-east corner of the mill bay. Inscribed stones in the rear wall denote "R Fell/Miller 1769", "G.B.", and a roughly carved "J.B.". The machinery is housed within a damaged frame of oak. The high-breast waterwheel, approximately 15 feet in diameter and 5 feet wide, has a cast iron shaft and rim, and eight pairs of timber spokes, now lacking buckets. A cast-iron bevelled pitwheel (around 8 feet diameter) drives a cast-iron wallower (around 3 feet diameter) on a timber vertical shaft. A spur wheel (around 10 feet diameter), with missing cogs, drove two pairs of underdrift timber stone-nuts; one set of stone-nuts and stones remains. The mill-pool is now drained, and the leat is silted.