Rindleford Mill

Rindleford Mill is a watermill dating from the mid-19th century, although with origins in the 18th century. The mill is constructed of buff brown brick with sandstone sections, and has a plain-tile twin-span roof. It is four storeys high. The front elevation has a two-window range, while the rear has a four-window range, featuring mainly fixed, three-light windows within segmental brick arches. A double-height doorway is centrally located on the front, with a projecting wooden hoist gantry above on the top floor, partly within the central gable. There is a further opening to the far right on the ground floor. The left half of the front, up to the second storey, is sandstone, marking the extent of the earlier 18th-century structure. This sandstone walling continues around to the left end, where there are various windows, including one in each gable, and two adjoining two-storey extensions; the right-hand extension contains a brick lateral stack. Doorways are present on both the ground and first floors. The right end has similar windows and an extension in poor condition, housing a large undershot waterwheel measuring approximately 15 feet in diameter and 7 feet wide, constructed of cast iron, wood, and metal sheeting.

The interior of the 18th-century section features stop-chamfered spine beams to the ground floor, which were altered, probably in 1846, a date appearing on a beam. This is thought to be the date of the mill’s main rebuilding. Most of the original machinery has been removed but the bedstones of two pairs of millstones remain, along with a third pair within an iron cover inscribed ‘Kay and Hilton, Liverpool’. There are also remnants of hoists and chutes. A mid-19th century cast-iron spiral staircase is present. The roof structure consists of bolted king post roofs. Initially a fulling mill in the medieval period, the mill was used as an oil mill in the early 18th century. In the 19th century, it operated as a flour mill and was also used to pump water from a well to a reservoir via belting from a pulley on the wheel spindle. It is recorded that in 1936, approximately 30,000 gallons of water were pumped daily to Bromley reservoir.