The Old Mill

The Old Mill is a late 18th-century mill with a house and stable, forming a long, single range of rubble stone construction with a half-hipped corrugated iron roof. A bakehouse is set back at the downhill end. The main range begins with a three-storey mill at the downhill (right) end, followed by a two-storey house, and finally lofted stabling at the upper end. The mill features a doorway and two two-light windows in the lower storey, and further two two-light windows on the middle (milling) floor. An overshot waterwheel, with iron shrouds, wooden radial arms and buckets, is situated against the right side wall. Above the waterwheel is an iron penstock. The waterwheel is partly enclosed by the bakehouse projection, which is built of rubble stone with brick quoins, weatherboarded loft and a pitched corrugated iron roof. The bakehouse has a boarded door to the left and a window to the right, each with brick dressings, and a small boarded opening in the gable end.

The double-fronted house has brick dressings, a central boarded door with overlight, and brick segmental-headed two-light small-pane windows on each storey. A full-height joint separates the house from the stable. The stable includes a split boarded door to the right, a top-hung casement window to the left, and a replaced loft window. Further to the left is a second stable unit, likely originally timber-framed, now rebuilt in blockwork with a weatherboarded loft. It features a boarded door to the right and a boarded loft door high in the upper end wall.

The rear of the building is built into a steep bank. The house includes a lean-to dairy; to the left is a two-light window within a lightwell, with a matching window above. A further small-pane stair light is positioned under a wooden lintel on the left. A tall lateral stack, originally stone, has been rebuilt in brick. On the mill floor, a boarded door provides access to the mill pond behind the building; alongside it is a two-light window, and a small window in the lower storey. Above the mill doorway, in the upper storey, is an opening that, according to a photograph from about 1900, was formerly a loading door projecting above the eaves, used for carrying sacks to the grain store via a temporary ramp.

The interior retains a significant amount of original machinery, including the main gearing and two pairs of stones in their tuns. A spur wheel drove a line shaft, which in turn powered belt drives for a flour dresser, a hoist, and a grindstone for sharpening mill pikes. A ladder stair rises from the ground floor to the mill floor, while a quarter-turn wooden stair leads to the upper storey.