Old Water-powered Mill, Ashford in the Water, Derbyshire.
Posted by: 
greysman
N 53° 13.422 W 001° 43.716
30U E 584880 N 5897910
This old mill was driven by water flowing from the River Wye above Ashford in the Water.
Waymark Code: WMCN8B
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/24/2011
Views: 4
The River Wye drove many mills in the past but perhaps the best known are the marble mills, established by Henry Watson in 1748. This mill is probably one of these and is to be found to the west of Ashford at the end of a lane running south from the A6 and over a bridge over the River Wye. However, due to construction material and the current state of deterioration, it would appear that the wheels is not the original ones. There are two mill-races, one at each end of the building.
The wheels were both driven by the undershot system, the water being taken from above a weir to the west of the mill, upstream, and directed along the mill-race behind the mill building, there is now no water in the race, it being blocked at its upstream end. The amount of power required could be adjusted using a 'valve' sliding in an angled groove and cotrolled by rack and pinion at the inlet to the wheel. Power was taken from the wheel using gears driven from teeth on the inside of the water-wheel and transfered to a horizontal shaft, via two idler gears. The shaft at the eastern end of the main building transfered power to a second building remote from the wheel further east.
Ashford `Black Marble' - which is really a form of highly polished limestone, was mined on the edge of the village at Rookery Wood, just to the north of the A6. It was worked from prehistoric times and a dressed slab was found in a tumulus on Fin Cop, north of the village. It was also used in many medieval churches,- and for the chimney-pieces at nearby Haddon Hall in the 1590`s.
An extract from Wikipedia: Henry Watson had been a marble sculptor in Bakewell and Ashford-in-the-Water since the early 1750s, and built and owned the water-powered marble mill in Ashford-in-the-Water. Henry Watson was largely responsible for founding the trade in the local Blue John fluorite and Ashford Black Marble, and provided the magnificent black and white marble flooring for the Great Hall at Chatsworth House in 1779.
Current Status: Ruin
Current Use: Not listed
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