Monument record MDR4865 - Lower Mill, Matlock Green, Matlock Town

SK 304597 Matlock Green, Watermill. 19th century watermill. Three storeys, corrugated iron roof. A bay projects from the north end. The Bentley Brook runs behind the mill and the millpond is to the south of the brook. The pond is fed by a covered goit, some 275m (300yds) long (from SK 307598). A flax mill was erected on this site in 1825, and then replaced with the present corn mill. It was being used to mill animal feedstuffs in c. 1900. (1) The site of the Lower Mill, Matlock Green was previously occupied by a flax mill, erected by Colin Bown. It is probably the flax mill at Matlock mentioned by Farey in 1817. Bown replaced the flax mill with a corn mill before 1833. (2) Matlock, Bottom Mill. There has been a mill at Matlock Green since about 1374. In the 18th century the three-storey stone mill, with a mill pond on the Bentley Brook, was owned by Joseph Blackwell and was known as Bottom Mill. It was tenanted by Henry Bailey in 1866, changing to Ernest H Bailey in 1888. Traditional millstones were used until it closed after the death of E H Bailey in 1938 and some of these remain in the grounds of the building. It is currently (1999) used as laboratories by a non-destructive testing company. (4) The mill had not been built in 1784 when the site was allotted to William Fox under the Matlock enclosure award. At some time before 1825 the site came into possession by John Brown who erected a flax mill there. This he subsequently replaced with the present mill. At the turn of the century it was in use for grinding animal feedstuffs but it is now (1997) used by Solus Testing. The row of cottages to the east of the mill are built on the site of a paint mill and later a malt kiln. (5)