The Mill

The Mill, St Dominick, Cotehele

A watermill with attached cider house on the Cotehele estate, formerly known as Morden Mill. The building probably dates from the 18th century and was remodelled and extended in two phases during the 19th century, when the cider house and secondary mill were added. The secondary mill is now converted to residential use. The building underwent restoration in the 20th century.

The structure is built of slatestone rubble with stone dressings, with slate roofs featuring ridge tiles and gable ends. The complex is organised with the main mill building at its centre, the waterwheel positioned at the rear with a launder running along the back from left to right. The cider house stands to the far left, built against the bank with an upper entrance at road level. The secondary mill occupies the left side; it formerly also had a waterwheel at the rear.

The cider house is a three-storey building with loft, presenting a symmetrical three-window front marked by a straight joint where it meets the main mill. The ground floor contains a central plain door flanked by 16-pane sashes, all with stone heads and hood moulds. The first floor has two 12-pane lights with flat stone arches and hood moulds, while the second floor has two 8-pane lights similarly treated. The main mill building, set on a plinth, is three storeys with loft and a symmetrical three-window front. Its ground floor features a central door with 12-pane lights to either side, all with flat stone arches and hood moulds. The first floor has a central loading door flanked by 12-pane lights with matching arches and hood moulds. The second floor contains two 8-pane lights with cambered stone arches, and a single light appears at ground level on the right side. The secondary mill to the right is a lower two-storey building with a two-window front. Its ground floor has a two-light casement and door, both with cambered stone arches and hood moulds, while the first floor contains two 20th-century two-light casements.

Stone steps ascend the roadside left end against the retaining wall, providing a doorway at first floor and loft level; the loft doorway is sheltered by a porch structure carried over the steps, allowing direct access from the road. The right end of the secondary mill has a central cellar door with shuttered windows to either side, a two-light casement with cambered stone head and hood mould at ground floor (with a blocked single light to the left), and a similar window at first floor with a narrow light at loft level.

At the rear, the main mill has a first-floor casement and single light at loft level. A wooden launder carried on a rubble pier drives an overshot wheel. The secondary mill's rear elevation contains two two-light casements at ground and first floors. The cider house rear has a door and external stack; the building was formerly partly used as a bakehouse, and retains a two-light casement at first floor and loft level.

The interior preserves a complete set of mill machinery driving two sets of stones, one of which is Buhrstone in wooden housing. A sack pulley wheel is geared from the main drive. The pit wheel and other wheels are wooden with wooden cogs, with subsidiary gearing to the right side and a front gear serving the two pairs of stones in an unusual arrangement. The front gearing is cast iron, likely a later 19th-century replacement. The machinery also includes a belt drive bringing the floor down to a wooden chute where sacks were filled.