Crowdy Mill

Crowdy Mill is a water mill and adjoining mill house situated on the Harbourne River, dating from around the late 17th or early 18th century, with possible earlier origins. It was enlarged in the 1840s, with the mill itself raised by one storey and re-roofed in 1900. The mill was restored to working order between 1982 and 1984. The building is constructed of local stone and slate rubble, with the mill heightened in rendered brick. The mill house has a slurried scantle slate hipped roof, while the mill has a slate roof at a higher level, hipped at the south end and with a slate-hung gable at the east end. There is a rendered ridge stack with slate weathering and a slate-hung stack on the east side.

The original layout of the mill and mill house was L-shaped. The mill is to the left (west), with a projecting wing to the front (south), which was extended after the 1840s. The mill house, to the right (east), was extended by one bay and enlarged to a double-depth plan to the rear (north) with a stack on the side wall. A lower wing was added to the rear in the 19th century, after 1840 (not depicted on the tithe map). A small lower gable-ended wing is to the north of the 19th-century extension, and a hipped roof single-storey outshut is in the angle.

The mill house is a two-storey building with a two-window range. It has 20th-century casement windows in original openings; those on the left have slated lintels, and those on the right have flat stone arches. A central glazed door leads to a large, rebuilt early 20th-century glazed porch with a cast iron finial and crested ridge tiles. The mill itself is two storeys, heightened to three storeys in rendered brick, and also has an L-shaped plan. It includes a projecting wing with a doorway in the end wall and a first-floor door above with a hoist. Small window openings on the south and east sides contain 20th-century 2-light casement windows with glazing bars. A doorway provides access to the first floor from a higher ground level on the west side, accompanied by a small ventilation hole and a loft door, both having chamfered slate lintels.

The roof of the mill house has 19th-century nailed trusses, and the mill has a roof dating from circa 1900. The mill machinery has been restored and is in working order, consisting of two overshot wheels on the north side which turn in opposite directions. The upper wheel drives two sets of mill stones through spur gearing and also operates ancillary machinery. The lower wheel drives a single set of mill stones using a lay shot drive system. A reference is made to work by Martin Watts, documented in Industrial Archaeology, Volume 17, No 1, Spring 1984, pages 47 to 51.