Listed Building record MDR3650 - Caudwell's Mill, River Wye, Rowsley

SK 25556573 Corn Mill (1) Caudwell's Mills was built in 1875. It originally had a breast water wheel and 8 pairs of stones. It was re-equipped in 1885 with 8 sets of roller mills and a 48 inch 'Trent' turbine installed in 1887. The attached provender mill was driven by a water wheel until 1898 when a 33 inch 'Little Giant' turbine was installed. (2) The earliest record of a mill at Rowsley is in 1339 and by the 16th century there was both a corn mill and a fulling mill. Between 1799 and 1840 the fulling mill was replaced by a saw mill which worked until about 1871. The corn mill continued to operate until 1858. Both mills were demolished in 1874 to make way for the present corn mill. This was powered by four breast shot wheels which together drove eight pairs of stones . The work cost £7000 and the mill buildings and the water course are almost the same today as when they were built, although the milling equipment and power source changed over the years. In 1877 roller milling was introduced into Britain and in 1881 this technology was introduced into Caudwell's mill followed, in 1887, by a turbine to provide enough power. Continuous improvements were added over the course of the first half of the 20th century, keeping the mill up-to-date and it thrived until the 1970s when it was forced to close down. Four years later a Charitable Trust was formed to maintain and operate the mill and it is now open to the public, as well as being one of only two in the county able to still produce flour. (3, 4) Four storey gritstone roller flour mill built by John Caudwell in 1874. Converted into roller milling in 1885 (Thornton's of Retford) and replaced by a water turbine in 1887, having proved difficult to adapt to the roller-milling system. The mill was abandoned as a commercial enterprise in about 1974 but is now run by a charitable trust, the future of the machinery having been assured. Some of the machinery has been updated over the years and an electric motor now powers the mill on a day-to-day basis but the mill remains an extremely rare example of a water powered roller flour mill. (5)