Hold Cauldron Mill

Hold Cauldron Mill

Mill, disused, early 19th century, with attached house. Built of coursed rubble under pantile roof with dressed quoins. The mill comprises two storeys plus an attic floor across four bays. The house is two storeys plus attic, four bays wide and two rooms deep, with three chimney stacks.

East elevation of the mill features a plank door to the left, two irregular shuttered windows, and a plank door to the mill wheel on the right. Above the main door is a first floor plank loading door with a stone lintel and shuttered window in the centre. Four regularly spaced shuttered windows sit in the eaves. Inserted into the wall to the left of the left-hand top floor window is a datestone inscribed "M FOORD LAT 54.19, 1734".

The rear (west) elevation has a panelled door to the right with stone lintel, one window at ground floor level, two at first floor, and four small shuttered windows in the eaves plus two small roof lights. A blocked entranceway from the mill race to the building remains visible at the north end. The house east elevation displays four 20th century 16-pane casement windows at first floor with dressed stone lintels and cills. At ground level are alternating 24-pane casements and panelled doors, with an additional small nine-pane window to the right under the same lintel as the right-hand door. The rear elevation has an irregular window pattern and a single panelled door with a rectangular three-pane overlight. Two attic windows are set in the south gable.

A clear butt joint separates the mill from the house, marked by quoins facing the mill at front and rear elevations. An additional butt joint is visible at the rear between the right and left-hand two bays of the house. This indicates the house is two-phase construction, with an earlier portion originally separate from the mill and probably contemporary with it, and a later infill section extending the house accommodation.

The mill interior comprises three floors including the attic. The mill retains a worn 15-foot diameter water wheel and cast iron pit wheel adjacent to the mill race at the north end of the building. Alongside these is a cast iron wallower driving an oak upright shaft with a cast iron spur wheel. Three sets of stones remain, one inscribed "WJ & T CHILD MAKERS HULL & LEEDS". The machinery extends into the roof space. The roof trusses are of butt purlin construction.

A stone-lined mill race is visible on the north side of the building, running from the River Dove and apparently disused during the mill's operational life.

The site has a long milling history. A mill stood here before 1704, when it was burnt down by a mill servant. The inscribed stone dated 1734 on the front of the building relates to a rebuilding by Matthew Foord. A map of 1781 shows the building on a different alignment. A datestone inscribed "Peter Peat 1784 Hold Cauldron" was removed from the site. An inventory from 1928 records the mill was "In bad condition" and lists "three pairs of stones. Centrifugal silk dresser. Two water troughs (one high, one low) to the wheel." The earlier mill race from a dam adjacent to the mill was replaced by a new leat from a loop in the River Dove on the opposite bank, brought to the mill via an aqueduct. The mill apparently ceased working in 1920.

This is a little altered early 19th century water mill with attached house, retaining a substantial portion of its original machinery, disused since the early 20th century.