Site record MDR22905 - Site of Building, near No. 35 Bridge Street, Belper

During a watching brief carried out over the excavation of a trench for electric cabling in 2009, the corner of a foundation of a sandstone building was exposed. 'The building appears to be contemporary with the mill as it has been constructed from the same sandstone and may have acted as a store house. The foundations were exposed to a depth of 0.36m… roughly constructed of varying sizes of sandstone blocks and slabs measuring 0.09m by 0.1m by an unknown depth, to 0.46m by 0.3m by 0.09m. A course, sandy lime mortar had been used as the bonding agent. …The western face of the structure was constructed using dressed stone at three courses high whilst the southeast face of roughly hewn red sandstone slabs. The maximum width of the foundations observed in the trench was 0.8m. The structure continued north below a set of steps attached to the sandstone building.' (1) The excavators suggest that the foundation could belong to the extant building above it. (1) The 1st edition 25" OS map of c1880, appears to show a smaller building in proximity which may also be a candidate for this particular foundation.