Monument record MDR15714 - Possible medieval mill site, Chaddesden, Derby

An Inquisition ad Quod Damnum of 1293-4 was recently [2014] translated from Medieval Latin and clearly discusses a mill on the River Derwent. It has been concluded that the mill discussed could not be the mill known as Chaddesden Mill [see SMR 32060], because it was too far from the River Derwent and they would never have been able to get the water to flow uphill. Chaddesden Mill got its water power from the stream that flows past Chaddesden village in to the River Derwent. The excavation of a 220 yard mill leat is discussed in the document, and it is thought that either the leat ran parallel to the Derwent, taking water from the river above the mill, bringing it downhill to the mill, and then back to the river; or, given the short length of the leat, it may have crossed the neck of an ox-bow bend in the river. A former ox-bow bend is visible on historic OS maps of the late 19th century, and is located immediately south of the railway bridge near the nature reserve at Pride Park. The river formerly veered around an area of ground in Chaddesden parish that was called Beaumontacre. Eventually the river took the path of least resistance and cut across the neck of the ox-bow, leaving a small part of Chaddesden on the wrong side of the river. Interestingly, the distance across the former neck of the ox-bow in approximately 230 yards. Another document dated 1770, which was a result of a survey of Beaumont Acre, shows detail of a dam, which could possibly be related to the mill leat. (1) If the information in Authority 1 is correct, the mill must have stood somewhere close by what is now the railway bridge at Wilmorton (SK 3774 3500). (2)