Watermill

This is a watermill located on Alvingham Abbey Lane, originally built in the 17th century and later modified in 1782 by John Maddison. It underwent further restoration in 1972. The structure is made of red brick, mostly covered with a colorwash, and features a pantile roof with stone-coped gables. The building has three storeys, including an upper storey added in 1872, and a four-bay front that includes a wheelhouse on the left, added in 1782, along with a lean-to structure added around 1900 on the left-hand return wall.

The entrance is on the right, featuring a segmental-headed doorway with a plank door. To the left, there is a glazing bar window with a segmental head. There is a noticeable break in the bonding of the brickwork to the left, leading to a segmental-headed opening beyond, which has a footbridge over it and a second segmental-headed opening behind that allows water access to the wheelhouse. The lean-to structure beyond has a plank door, and above it is another segmental-headed doorway with a plank door and a platform in front. There are two small glazing bar windows to the left, both with segmental heads. A wheel with a belt pulley was inserted around 1900 to power a pea-sorting machine, which is intact inside the lean-to on the left. Above, there are three small sliding sash windows, all with segmental heads, and a pulley immediately above the window to the right. There is also a shuttered opening in the lean-to to the left.

Inside, the watermill features a breast shot waterwheel from 1782, measuring 11 feet in diameter, with large axle spokes and cheek plates made of cast iron with dovetailed joints. It has 32 buckets made of wrought iron and elm board. There are two slide valves at axle height that are in good working order, along with a cast iron pit wheel and wallower. An auxiliary drive connects the pit wheel to both internal and external belt pulleys. On the first floor, there are two pairs of Peak stones in use, one of which has a feed hopper and casing from around 1972. A pair of French burr stones is not currently in use. The stones are driven by a vertical shaft via a wooden toothed gear wheel, which continues to the top floor to drive a sask hoist with a wooden-faced clutch wheel. All machinery from 1782 has been restored around 1972 and is now in good working order and regularly used. The watermill has been on this site since 1155, with water channeled from the River Lud and culverted under the Louth Canal in a brick tunnel.