Battens Mill

NORTH HILL SX 27 NE 4/74 Battens Mill GV II* Water mill. Probably late C16 and possibly with earlier origins. Stone rubble. Slate roof with gable ends. Plan: The original arrangement is uncertain. The mill appears to have been heated by fireplaces in the left hand gable end and on the first floor in the right gable end. The floor levels appears as have been altered on several occasions. Overall rectangular plan with wide entrance on front and C19 overshot wheel to rear. The mill machinery is of circa later C19. Exterior: Two storeys. Asymmetrical front elevation. Impressive entrance slightly to left of centre with lean-to porch roof supported on two granite octagonal piers with broach stops and moulded bases and moulded caps. The doorway has a rounded chamfered granite arch. To left, a large garage door has been inserted and to right is a C19 casement with C20 window in a dormer with raking roof. The windows in the left hand side elevation have granite surrounds. Entrance in loft is right hand gable end. Overshot wheel to rear with remains of timber buckets. Interior: The interior has been altered in phases during the C17 and C18 as well as C19 and C20 and to understand the building a full measured survey is required. The floor height on left has been raised and the different heights of the windows and granite chamfered fireplace lintel suggest that the floor level of the first floor was also altered more than once. On the rear wall are granite corbelled brackets presumably to support floor joists and the ledge in the wall above these brackets suggest the height of a later floor level. To right the mill machinery appears largely intact and should be recorded. There is one pair of mill stones surviving and the partitions within the loft relate to the C12 machinery, partly obscuring the earlier features. There is a fireplace in the right hand end wall, the right hand granite jamb is carved with a lozenge pattern and the left hand jamb is chamfered. The roof structure appears unusually to be original, or at least of the late C16 or early C17, 4 heavy clean trusses with curved feet resting on top of the wall plate. The apices are morticed and the cranked chamfered collars have dovetailed single notched and lap-joints. It is uncertain how many of the collars remain. This is a particularly interesting mill requiring a fuller and more detailed survey.

Listing NGR: SX2720875941