The Water Mill

This place is a beautiful, long derelict little water mill on a large river. It was built sometime between 1790 and 1800 and is built of red brick. It is a rectangular building with two enormous, ~20ft cast iron water wheels – the western wheel was undershot, and the eastern wheel was also undershot. Each wheel powered two pairs of mill stones to grind grain into flour. These are all still extant, albeit in a deconstructed state. The cast iron pit wheels and gearing systems are all still in situ, though rusted and seized to buggery and back. It was listed in 1994 and is a Grade II listed building.

The Explore:

My friend Landie_Man and I rocked up nearby at around half past six in the evening. At that point, it was incredibly foggy, cold and frosty, being a bitterly freezing January evening. We trudged to the mill, with me getting increasingly irate as both my phone and torch decided to go on the blink in quick succession! We got to the mill and then spent about an hour trying to find a way inside because all of the windows and doors were barred shut, and eventually, after much effing and blinding, we were both inside after having found a very out of the way access point. The interior of the mill lacks floors, so it was pretty damn dangerous at night. However, the machinery and features inside made up for the extreme difficulty of gaining access and also the filth we were both covered in! We spent around an hour inside the mill taking photographs (having to light paint and do long exposures thanks to the almost zero light levels) and then we exited whereupon poor Landie slipped and ended up knee deep in muddy water and then went on a huge rant about how if we collected stamps we would not be knee deep in muddy water and filthy and would be warm in a chair staring at stamps. We then left after taking a couple of long exposure externals. Overall, it was a lovely explore!

Exterior