Monument record MDR5758 - Loscoe Dam, Loscoe

Loscoe Dam was first mentioned in the Derbyshire Assize Rolls of 1300 and contemporary documents held at Belvoir Castle refer to 'Loscoe Mill'. The dam appears to have been constructed by Richard, Baron Grey of Codnor for the twin purposes of powering a corn mill and also for ensuring that there was an adequate supply of fish available for the nearby Codnor Castle. In the late 16th century the water contained by the dam was used to power an iron works which was built by Sir John Zooch of the Castle. An advertisement in the Derby Mercury of March 6 1844 describes the mill pond as covering 20 acres of land. Although all trace of buildings has gone, the former pond, fed by the Bailey Brook, remains, still retained by the mill dam, and is approached down Furnace Lane. (1) Loscoe Dam is depicted on Greenwood's map of 1825 and Sanderson's map of 1835 and is shown extending considerably further northwards than the present lake. (2, 3) The lake known as Loscoe Dam, lying east of Loscoe High Street and northwest of the site of Ormonde Colliery [SMR 20513], was impounded by John Zouch in the second half of the 16th century to drive the bellows for one of his Erewash Valley iron furnaces [SMR 20525]. The site was later occupied by a corn mill before Ormonde Colliery impinged on the south east of the site. (4)