Building record MDR9109 - Sutton Mill, Sutton on the Hill

A mill at Sutton on the Hill is recorded in Domesday Book and one still stands today. The ancient mill was valued at 20 shillings and, compared to many of the other mills included in the survey, was much more valuable. Built on the Sutton Brook, it is situated some 8 miles west of Derby. The present late 18th century mill buildings are built in the form of a letter 'L' with one wing probably built later than the other. It has now been converted into a house. The mill was powered by two undershot water wheels fed from a large mill pond above the mill, with the water passing under the road to the wheels. The larger of the wheels was in a brick wheelhouse and was about 18ft in diameter and 5ft wide. The second wheel was contained inside the building and was about 16ft in diameter and 5ft wide. Both have been removed. The larger wheel had worked three pairs of underdriven stones, one pair of which survives. Parts of the wooden hursting which carried the stones remain, as do some pulleys, shafts, gears and sluice controls. The smaller water wheel had driven two pairs of stones, one of which, a French burr, survived in place until quite recently. The mill had its own kiln and a large open granary, including walkways, which has only recently been added to the house conversion. The mill is shown on Burdett's survey of 1767. For at least its last hundred years, it was worked by various members of the Hall family and it last ground grain during the 1940s. (1) The OS map of 1901 shows the mill pond, with a sluice for the overspill about halfway along its southern edge. The map appears to show a small island in the pond, with additional symbols suggesting the pond was beginning to silt up. (2)