Mathern Mill and attached house

Mathern Mill and attached house are a complex of buildings dating to the 18th century, with later additions and alterations. The mill consists of two ranges situated one behind the other, with a mill house at the left-hand end of the rear range.

The narrower front range, believed to be the engine house, is three storeys high and built of red brick with a Welsh slate gabled roof. The front elevation, facing the road, has two window bays. The second floor features flat arched windows with small panes, their heads at eaves level. On the first floor is a segmental headed window with small panes to the left and a segmental headed plank door to the right. The ground floor has two boarded segmental headed openings. A weather-boarded outskirt with a corrugated iron roof is set against the eastern gable end, hiding the base of the gable wall; the upper half of the outskirt is blind. An entrance to the engine house is through a doorway in the western gable wall, with a plank door and elliptical head. The gable wall is otherwise blind.

The rear range comprises the mill and the mill house. The mill portion is to the right, behind the engine house, and the mill house is to the left. Three storeys and a loft are present, with stone walls externally rendered; it has a Welsh slate gabled roof with red brick chimneys – the ridge chimney is original while one on the front wall is a rebuilding. The east gable is un-rendered, revealing white limestone. Several square openings are visible in the gable, some obscured by ivy. The south elevation, to the right of the mill house, features a door, a small two-light window, and a taking-in door on the floor above. The western part of this range comprises the mill house, with a two-window-bay southern elevation. The second floor has small windows with heads at eaves level; the first floor has sash windows without glazing bars and with slightly cambered heads; and the ground floor has a sash window without glazing bars to the left and a doorway to the right. These ground floor windows have since been replaced with hardwood replicas. An additional door and window are in the gable end. The rear elevation was not visible during resurvey.

The interior was not accessible for inspection. It is said to contain the main drive gears on the ground floor, a crown wheel and four pairs of French stones on the first floor (two pairs of which remain in situ with associated wooden horses and hoppers), and a hoist. The function of the engine house is currently unknown, as no chimney or boiler house is visible, despite the building’s name.