Coulton Mill: corn mill, house, and farm buildings

Coulton Mill: corn mill, house, and farm buildings

This is a water-powered corn mill with associated house and farm buildings of medieval origins, re-established by 1657 and upgraded before 1721, with subsequent modifications. The complex is constructed primarily of hammer-dressed local calcareous sandstone rubble, with higher quality stone reserved for the mill. The house retains lime render to its front elevation with evidence of previous rendering elsewhere. Welsh slate covers the house roof, whilst pantiles cover the mill and other farm buildings.

The farm is arranged around a road-formed yard, with the house and mill positioned on the north-west side, a barn range to the south and a cow byre to the north-east. The waterwheel is located on the west side of the mill, with the mill race approaching from the west and the tail race culverted under the road to rejoin the Marr Beck west of the barn range.

The Mill

The mill is a single-cell building of two bays, constructed as a tall single storey with attic accommodation. The south elevation features a low, wide doorway to the left and a high-set window to the right, both with timber lintels. A Cullin millstone is reused to form the doorstep. The waterwheel pit is positioned parallel to and outside the west gable, constructed with a number of large stone ashlar blocks. The remains of the waterwheel, which has deteriorated considerably since being recorded in 2012, still show details of its construction: six tangential timber arms clasp the axle to support the wheel rims, themselves formed by six curved lengths of butt-jointed timbers. Iron straps and bolts strengthen the joints. Although the buckets have mostly been lost or badly damaged, sufficient material remains to understand their detailed design. The wheel pit sits within the low ruined remains of its wheelhouse, which had its own attic accessed via a surviving doorway set in the mill house gable above the waterwheel. The rear wall of the wheelhouse forms the eastern end of the retaining wall for the mill race and is thought to be the earliest structure on the site. The tailrace and culvert under the road are stone-lined.

Internally, the mill retains the hurst (the timber-framed platform for the millstones) and most of the machinery in situ, although the millstones and some components have been lost. The machinery is predominantly timber construction but includes metal components such as cast iron gear tooth plates bolted onto timber wheels. The 2012 recording did not include machinery components buried within the cog pit debris or finer details such as grain chutes surviving within the attic floor above the hurst. This attic floor is supported by substantial waney-edged beams and provides the only access to the attic floor within the house. The mill building's roof structure has been replaced.

The House

The house is late 17th century with 18th-century and later additions and alterations. Originally of single cell, it was subsequently extended to the east and had a continuous outshut added to the rear containing the staircase. The original cell had direct entry adjacent to the internal doorway between the house and mill, with the bedroom above also having access into the mill. Access to the house's attic is via the mill's attic.

The front (south) elevation presents two bays and two storeys with a blind attic storey. The entrance is to the left (west), adjacent to the projecting mill building. Windows are 2-over-2 horned sashes with projecting sills and stucco wedge lintels; the door features a similar lintel. The chimneys at the ends are rebuilt in brick. The east gable shows the butt joint between the house and outshut. The house wall displays three openings with projecting cills and timber lintels: two blocked attic windows and one first floor window with a 6-by-6 pane Yorkshire sliding sash. The outshut has two similar windows at first and ground floor level, the latter barred. The rear is partly rendered with scattered fenestration including a small 4-pane pantry window, a 6-6-6 pane kitchen window with central horizontal sliding sash (a modern reproduction), and a 6-by-6 Yorkshire sash. To the right (west) is an outbuilding under a catslide roof continuous with that covering the house and outshut. Both the outshut and outbuilding carry brick chimneys to the west.

Internally, the ground floor west room retains a substantial ceiling beam that is chamfered with double run-out stops. The fireplace is modern but flanked by simple wall cupboards. The connecting doorway into the mill has been blocked. A former doorway to the bottom of the stairs, previously blocked, has been converted into a bookcase. The east room in the outshut, probably originally a dairy, retains a brick floor and a plank door on L-hinges. The staircase is a steep, straight flight enclosed behind an 18th-century planked door on strap hinges. Other internal doors include a plank door on H-hinges with a simple Suffolk latch and a 3-panel door. The outshut roof structure is of sawn timber with pegged butt purlins. The attic of the house and its roof structure were not inspected.

Barn Range

The barn range is single storey with four doors facing north, the other sides blind except for a loft pitching door to the east gable. A brick-built lean-to stands at the west end. The south wall is buttressed. The building appears to have been constructed in three phases from west to east, the first two marked by the use of earth mortar, the last by hot-lime mortar. The roof structure comprises bolted king post trusses supporting back purlins, all of sawn timber. The west half retains 20th-century concrete cattle stalls.

Cow Byre

The cow byre is rubble stone built, incorporating clay field drain pipes for ventilation, with hand-made bricks forming the corners and the jambs to most openings, which have timber lintels. The building is of two storeys and three bays, the east bay forming a flagged loose box with hayloft above. The two west bays form a cow byre retaining a roughly flagged floor and timber hay racks. A central doorway flanked by windows with restored timber vertical slats provides access, with a door to the gable end and one to the loose box. Above is a two-bay loft with similar windows to both north and south elevations, accessed via a gable-end door reached by an external stair. Above this door is a triangular set of dove holes. The roof structure comprises simple collared trusses supporting pegged butt purlins.