Wade Mill

Wade Mill is a watermill, likely dating from the early 19th century, with additions probably made in the mid-19th century. It is constructed of random stone rubble with some red-brick dressings, and has gable-ended Welsh-slate roofs, including a monopitch roof over the addition.

The building has a long, rectangular plan. The watermill is located at the right-hand end, with the waterwheel at the back. A mid-19th century single-storey addition to the left was likely a sawmill.

On the right-hand side, early 19th century windows include a 2-light wooden casement with small panes and slightly-segmental stone arched heads; two to the first floor and one to the ground floor. A 2-leaf boarded door, also with a segmental stone-arched head and wrought-iron strap hinges, is positioned off-centre to the right. A blocked door, indicating differing masonry, is off-centre to the left. Loft beam-ends are visible above the first-floor windows. The gable-end on the right has a first-floor boarded door with a segmental stone-arched head, and a 2-light attic window with a segmental stone arched head, formerly a loft doorway—a partly blocked opening remains. A 2-light loft window is also visible in the left-hand gable end, with a stone-arched head. The former sawmill addition has three large windows with flat stone-arched heads and boarded double doors, under a segmental brick-arched head in the left-hand return front. The rear of the mill was not inspected but retains an external metal overshot water wheel.

Inside, the mill features wooden cross-beamed ceilings and wooden stairs between floors. The roof structure consists of a 4-bay arrangement, with each truss incorporating principal rafters, a collar, posts from the tie-floor beam to the ends of the collar, and posts from the collar to the apex. Much of the original wooden and iron machinery and fittings remain. The mill’s drive system includes a 2-step spurwheel arrangement, with a heavy wooden frame housing the pitwheel and spurwheel on the ground floor, which formerly drove two pairs of stones on the first floor. A secondary drive take-off from a second spurwheel on the first floor leads to line shafting on that floor and also passes through the ceiling to drive a sack hoist in the loft. Wooden hatches for sacks are present on the floors, and grain bins with chutes lead down to the former millstones on the first floor. Millstones were not noted during a survey in July 1987.