Bowden Mill And Adjoining Cottages

Bowden Mill and adjoining cottages are an early 19th-century mill building with attached millworkers’ cottages. The mill is constructed of granite rubble walls, rendered to the mill and the left-hand cottage, and has a slate roof with gable ends. It features four rendered brick stacks, one axial and three gable stacks. A large wooden overshot water wheel is attached to the left gable end of the mill, and is now slightly dilapidated. The mill building has a 2 1/2 storey elevation with a 2-window front to the left, and a recessed bay to the right under an overhanging top storey. Windows are single fixed lights of 16 panes, and there are doors at ground and first floor level in the right-hand gable end. The recessed section to the right is weatherboarded with a first-floor loading door. The overhanging top storey is also weatherboarded.

Two double-fronted cottages adjoin the mill, and a third, originally single-fronted cottage, has now been incorporated into the adjacent cottage. All cottages are single depth. A lean-to outbuilding is attached to the end of the single-fronted cottage, and is approached on the first floor by external stone steps, possibly indicating a former granary.

The cottage to the right of the mill building presents an asymmetrical 2-window front, with sash windows of 12 panes, except for the ground floor left, which has 4 panes. It includes a 20th-century flat-roofed, part-glazed porch with a glazed front door. The central cottage has a symmetrical 3-window front with early 19th-century sash windows of 16 panes without horns. Ground floor windows have timber lintels, and the central door is of six moulded panels, likely of the same period. The right-hand cottage has a single-window front with a window and door on the ground floor. A 12-pane replacement window with horns and a 20th-century part-glazed door are present on its ground floor, whilst the first floor window is identical to those of the adjoining cottage. Timber lintels are present to ground floor openings. A lean-to outbuilding is attached to the right gable end, recessed from the front of the house, with stone steps leading up to a first-floor door.

The interior of the mill retains much original machinery and granite mill stones, with mechanics for diverting water above the wheel. Approximately 4 metres north of the cottages, a 19th-century granite rubble bridge crosses the mill stream; it features a segmental stone voussoir arch of roughly dressed stones, roughly squared coping stones, and swept-out abutments.