Stretton Mill And Steps, Millrace And Sluice Adjoining

A water-powered cornmill, originally dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, with extensions added in the 18th and 19th centuries. The building is constructed of weatherboarded oak frame and coursed red sandstone, with a brown brick lean-to extension and a rear chimney of stone and brick. The roof is covered with graded grey slate, and the older section has a stone plinth and stone replacement walls. A 19th-century stone extension is located on the left side. Two storeys plus an attic grain store make up the structure. An external overshot water wheel is visible on the right gable wall. The main entrance features a divided, boarded oak door. The front elevation has one leaded casement and one iron-barred opening to the lower storey, and three leaded casements to the upper storey. Further leaded casements are located on the upper storey and in the west gable, all fitted with oak shutters on wrought iron hinges. The east gable end contains a camber-arched opening to the internal wheel pit, with an oak boarded loading door above, flanked by small shuttered casements. A lean-to extension at the rear has leaded casements and a boarded door. The stone chimney features a diagonal brick flue and carved initials and dates, including “IHM 1763” and “JOHN HUGHES.” Bargeboards and exposed rafters are visible along the eaves. Adjoining the east gable wall is a flight of stone steps leading up to the mill dam, and a stone-walled millrace with sluice.

The interior of the mill contains a breastwheel in the 19th-century extension, driving a complete train of largely cast iron machinery from the mid-Victorian period. On the right side, a train of restored, largely 18th-century wooden machinery is driven by the external wheel. A forge-hearth is situated on the lower storey at the rear. An upper floor, accessed by a steep staircase to the left of the entrance, houses the underdrift millstones, ancillary equipment, and a hoist-hatch. The lean-to extension has carved inscriptions on the east side of the chimney, including “PB; IR; IMO; 1640; EW(?); PB 1712”. The loft in the older part of the main building is accessed by ladder and features two diagonal-strut oak trusses with windbraces, chamfered oak purlins, and a diagonally set ridge piece. The oak frame and kingpost truss of the former left gable, now located between the older part and the 19th-century extension, remains. The mill machinery, restored in 1967 partly funded by the Science Museum, is considered of national importance.