Brindley Water Mill

There was a water mill in Leek by the mid-12th century, owned at that time by Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester. His grandson Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester in the early 1220s gave the mill to Dieulacres Abbey. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536–41, the abbey had two water mills in Leek, one of which was on the River Churnet in Mill Street. In the early 1750s James Brindley, who had set up as a millwright in Mill Street in 1742 after completing his apprenticeship in Macclesfield, was asked to rebuild the corn mill in Leek. The new mill was probably on or near the former site, and involved constructing a mill race and a weir. A stone set into the west…

The building measures 28 ft north to south and 27 ft west to east. The front, facing east, has on the left (in the centre before the 1948 demolition) a wide entrance with a segmental arch, and a circular window above; to the right, there are two arched windows on each floor. There is an undershot waterwheel, diameter 16 ft, on the north side of the building; near to it are the weir, millpond, leats and sluice gates whereby water is directed away from the river. Inside, the floors, bearing the grinding stones and machinery, are supported by large oak beams. The roof rafters are supported by a king post structure resting on a curved tie beam. The waterwheel operates two sets of stones, via an…