Ashford Mill

This is our watermill. It would have helped had I remembered to move the car.

Today, the surveyors came to carry out the 3D survey I had commissioned as part of our work necessary to be able to restore the mill and find a suitable use for it.

The front of the mill is rarely as tidy as this!

The mill is the oldest building in our village. It is in the Domesday book and has additions from then right up to the 20th Century. Beyond that, I don’t know a great deal about its history. However, shortly, Chatsworth House are going to let us use their library archives as a starting point to build a full picture of it’s past.

The pantile roof above the kiln and drying room on the left is exceedingly rare in Derbyshire, the remainder of the roof is stone. The walls are local Ashford stone.

It is a beautiful building. Inside, it is totally intact. It has six pairs of millstones with all the associated equipment. The sleds you see stacked on the right were the forerunner to the modern pallet. I bet most people including me, thought pallets were a recent invention☺

If all goes according to plan, we hope to be able to begin work on the restoration in the Autumn, or Spring next year.

Many thanks for your comments on the dreary trees, I will be replying to them this evening.