Monument record MDR5085 - Brockhurst Corn Mill, Ashover

Brockhurst, Corn Mill. The remains of Brockhurst Corn Mill. It now [1970] comprises a ruined stone building, without a roof. The overshot wheel has been removed, requiring the partial demolition of one wall. The water pipe to the wheel, with the tail race, still survives. Some wooden machinery survives inside the mill. (1,2) Old mill at Brockhurst. Features include the derelict ancient mill, millpond, mill stream, buildings, remains of working parts. In very poor condition [in 1973]. Overgrown, with self-seeded trees. Millpond being cleared and cleaned by owner. (3) This mill, on the River Amber, is shown on the 1840 OS map and still appeared on the 1906 map. Nothing remains on the site today. Millers were J Robinson in 1855 and A Robinson in 1881. (4) Brockhurst Mill is on Smalley Brook, one of the two main headwaters of the River Amber. It is marked 'Disused' on the OS 6" map of c. 1920. This may be the mill recorded as being owned by Hugh Bateman and tenanted by Arthur Robinson in 1780, but there is no corresponding map to confirm this. A mill occupied occupied by Arthur Robinson was advertised for sale in 1796 together with a farmhouse and 32 acres of land. (5) The mill wheel is stated to have been c. 14ft in diameter and 2ft wide, fed by the lower of two dams, the upper one being used to replenish the lower. Milling is said to have ceased in c. 1900. (6) The site had an earlier use as a lead smelter, as evidenced by a copy of a draft lease dated 1672 which refer to 'that corne milne & smelting milne in the upper end of the lane … with a watercourse free through the hall carr…'. A survey of 1783 shows that Hall Carr abutted Brockhurst Mill. In the poor law assessment of 1693 Anthony Woodward, a lead merchant, paid the levy for Hall Carrs and the Brockhurst Mills. There are no further references to the smelting mill. The mill site has had two phases of use. Initially the smelting-mill, and perhaps the original corn mill, appear to have been fed from a dam, now breached, which crossed the valley - the length to the west of the stream is prominent. Slag can be found in the modern stream-bed and on the bank to the east. The working area cannot be precisely defined, but probably lies just west of the stream. An overflow, now dry, can be seen at the western end of the dam. Later a corn mill was built on the east side of the valley, fed from a narrow pond, which remains full and apparently occupies the eastern part of the area of the original pond. The later pond was supplied by a leat leaving the stream at SK32806506 and now dry as far south-east as SK 32886485, where it picks up water from springs and field-drains. The shell of the mill-building has recently been re-roofed. (7)