Monument record MDR8123 - Upper Carlton/Field's Wheel, Eckington

This was constructed as a cross-valley dam with a single building at its eastern end. It was constructed in around 1780, as a document of 1796 states 'Mem: about 16 years ago William Fields built the Sickle Wheel which his Widow and son Richard now hold, they found the materials themselves'. Another document of the same date states 'Field's Sickle Wheel 4 troughs 11 foot high and full breadth of wheel 6 feet inside NB the wheel built by the family about 16 years. Breast fall 22 inches head [..illegible..] troughs £10 each, the owner keeps them in repair. This is accompanied by a small pencil sketch of the wheel itself. A third note of 1822 states 'Mem: it appears to me as if the stone that this Mill was built with was got at the southeast corner of the Dam head where there is a good quarry and perhaps [John Field's] late father might have had the stone [..illegible..] for building it'. At that time, 6 troughs are recorded. Although mapped as Upper Carlton Wheel at the end of the 18th century, it was called Field's Wheel by 1855, at which time the pond was already partly silted up (a process which is complete today) (1)