Monument record MDR8567 - Atlow Mill, Kill Lane, Atlow

A mill on the Henmore Brook is shown on Greenwood's map of 1825 but not on Burdett's map of the late 18th century, although there appears to have been a mill here for hundreds of years [see SMR 706]. Contemporary Victorian photographs show it to be a large stone building, with a tiled roof. Only the wheel pit, about 15ft by 8ft wide, and traces of the leat which brought water to the mill from higher up the brook, remain today to show it had been a mill. The mill building is presently used as an educational establishment [1999]. (1) Records of Atlow Mill go back at least as far as the mid-13th century [see SMR 706]. (2) Atlow Mill was a former water-powered corn mill, possibly built before or renovated/extended in 1779. It was latterly a working farm. Currently [2014], the only clear remnant of the corn mill is the wheel pit. The course of the former leat, now without water, can be traced through the trees, but the course of the tail race remains undetermined. By 1833, there are records of two corn mills in the Atlow area. The oldest mill is known as Atlowmoat [see SMR 706], dating from the 12th century and situated about 100 yards downstream from the site of the moated manor house. Atlow Mill is a separate, newer mill, constructed at a later date upstream. A local resident who was born at Atlow Mill recalls the disused wheel being removed from the pit in the late 1940s, as it was too noisy when the rain fell. It was too large to be removed intact, and so an explosive charge was required to break up the wheel first. The mill tail race remains unlocated but is thought to run either beneath the mill and adjoining house, or extend underground across the yard and enter the Henmore Brook to the west. (3) Two and three storey gritstone corn mill buildings now converted for residentual use. (4)