Balk Mill

Balk Mill is a flax mill, dating from the late 18th to early 19th century, and currently undergoing conversion. It is constructed of pinkish brick in an English garden wall bond, with a pantile roof. The gable end faces the road, and the building is three stories high, with a loft, spanning three bays by five bays. The windows are segmental-headed, with brick arches and stone cills. The north (roadside) gable has the lowest floor below ground level. The next floor has steps leading up to a board door in a flush wood surround on the right. Above the door is a blind window, and in the gable are paired blind round-arched windows marking the ends of several tie rods. The south gable has a door to the left on the ground floor, and another wide inserted doorway on the right. Centrally, on the ground and first floors, are tall, blocked, round-arched windows, and another on the second floor. There are windows to either side on the first and second floors, and paired round-arched windows in the gable, also marking the ends of several tie rods. The returns feature windows that now have 1987 glazing; two ground floor windows on the left return have been altered to doorways. Stone blocks provide internal seatings for the cross beams. Inside, the cross beams are supported on rectangular timber posts, with wide floorboards and collared queen-post roof trusses and angle struts. A map from 1753 depicts a mill on or near the site, but it is unlikely to have been the current building. Prior to its present use, the mill operated as a grinding mill, with a mill wheel located on the north gable.