Grinton Smelting Mill And Watercourse

GRINTON COGDEN MOOR SE 09 NW 16/18 Grinton Smelting Mill and Watercourse 13.2.73 GV II* Disused lead smelting mill. c1820. Rubble with crude quoins, stone slate roof. Single storey, 2 parts forming a T-shape in plan, all under 1 roof. Wider end facing south upstream, has 3 ground floor openings with segmental-arched heads, central doorway and flanking windows. Rear elevation has central doorway with round-arched head. West side has a door to each part, east side has a small opening at a high level for pentrough to waterwheel, and a smaller opening, also the exit from the hearths to the flue, and a doorway at the east end. Interior: in the broader end, remains of 3 smelting hearths, with 2 large king-post roof trusses. Behind, the bellows room and wheelchamber, containing an inserted timber framework which supported a Vaughan's blowing engine, powered by an overshot waterwheel of 6-7 metres diameter. Remains of the pentrough survive. A watercourse, barrel-vaulted in rubble, runs alongside the mill. The present mill is a rebuilding on a very old site. It is the best preserved lead smelting mill in the area. Scheduled as an Ancient Monument. Arthur Raistrick, The Lead Industry of Wensleydale and Swaledale, 1975.

Listing NGR: SE0487796425