Nether Alderley Mill

The earliest reference to the mill is in 1391. The 14th-century mill was replaced in 1595–1597, at around the time that ownership of the manor mill passed to the Stanley family, and some of this late-16th century stonework survives in the mill's basement. In the mid-18th century, the mill was enlarged to its current size and layout. To provide more power, a new mill pond was built, along with new tunnels, inside which the date 1746 is inscribed. The Trust restored the mill into working order in 1967–70.

The mill is constructed in buff-pink ashlar sandstone, and has a long cat-slide roof of Kerridge stone-slate. Its plan is rectangular. The roof weighs about 200 tons, and is carried in an Elizabethan oak frame. The rear wall of the mill forms the dam for the lake supplying the water for the mill; this also acts as a moat for Alderley Old Hall. The water drives two overshot wheels of 12 ft and 13 ft diameter. Each operates separately, forming in effect two distinct mills with its own machinery, the water passing from the upper wheel to the lower one.