Thwaite Mills Watermill

The first known mill on the site was a fulling mill built in 1641, as part of the local industry of manufacturing woollen cloth. In 1823–25 the Aire and Calder Navigation company acquired the mill and redeveloped the site. Two new large waterwheels were built, and the site comprised the mill building, the manager's house, stables, workshop, warehouse and workers' cottages. The cottages were demolished in 1968, but the other buildings remain intact. Set on an island between the River Aire and the Aire and Calder Navigation, the mill was as self-sufficient as its owners could make it. There were workshops, orchards, arable land and pasture, and the mill did not have an electricity supply…