Monument record MDR5084 - Ashover Mill and head race (remains of), Butts Pasture, Ashover

Butts Pasture corn mill, the remains of a 19th century water mill. The cast iron wheel is in situ. It was overshot, with a cast iron pipe feed. The tail race was presumably underground, back to the River Amber. (1-2) A mill is marked on the River Amber on both Burdett's map of 1767 and Greenwood's map of 1824-5. Lexley Mill, also known as Ashover Mill, was part of the Overton Estate. In the sale catalogue of 1869 it was described as being of stone, slated and tiled, containing 3 pairs of millstones and an overshot waterwheel. It was in ruins in the 1920s. S Goodhead was the miller in 1876 and J Flewitt in 1912. (3) Ashover Mill. Near Butts Pasture there stand the remains of a small stone-built water-powered corn mill. The buildings are in a ruinous condition: cast-iron wheel, small and decaying; overshot with the headrace piped; cast iron pipe survives, with two wooden-toothed wheels attached. (4) This appears to be the mill held in moieties by Sir Joseph Banks and George Hodgkinson in 1780. The 1869 sale catalogue of the Overton Estate actually states that the mill had two overshot wheels. In 1806 a moiety of an overshot water corn mill on the River Amber, with two water wheels, three pairs of stones and a drying kiln was advertised for sale. This may have been Ashover Mill, but Fall Mill is a possible alternative. The Ashover tithe award of 1849 shows Samuel Goodlad as both owner and occupier of Ashover Mill. The mill was certainly disused by 1918. (5)