North Mill To Cheddleton Flint Mill

The North Mill to Cheddleton Flint Mill is a water mill built for grinding flint, constructed between 1756 and 1765, possibly by the engineer James Brindley. It features a red brick structure with sandstone quoins and a tiled roof. The mill is two stories high and has a single-window west front. The first floor includes a segmental-headed cast-iron casement above a wide segmental-headed boarded door, with a lean-to on the left side. To the right-hand gable, there is a timber and cast-iron undershot wheel situated in a mill race that is taken off the River Churnet and shared with the South Mill. This mill is part of a larger complex that includes furnaces and drying kilns, all located in a close and attractive group. Flint was processed here by being fired, ground in the mills, and bake-dried to create 'slop', which was an admixture used to produce more durable and finely-textured tiles and pottery for the nearby Five Towns in the 19th century.