Monument record 7883 - Site of Higher Roughwood Mill

<1> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 44/2 c.1841 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

This map of 1841 depicts a large mill pond, the mill building, race and overflow leat.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ7857, 1875-1876 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

The mill dam is clearly depicted on this map and labelling shows this was a flour mill. Its clear that there has been considerable silting up of the mill pond.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ7857, 1909 (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

The mill would appear to be still operating.

<4> Huntings Surveys Ltd, 1971-1973, 1971-1973 County Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH4881.

The mill pond is no longer extant.

<5> Lanpro (Norwich), 2917, Archaeological Desk-based Assessment: Roddymoor Mill House, Hassall, Cheshire East, R4260 (Client Report). SCH8612.

An archaeological desk-based assessment, supplemented with a field visit, was undertaken in May 2017 for land at Roddymoor House, Hassall, in advance of substantial re-development comprising the creation of a new estate and associated infrastructure. The programme of development included demolition of Higher Roughwood Mill, dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth century, its millhouse and an associated outbuilding.

The assessment records Higher Roughwood Mill as a water-powered flour mill dating to the late 18th century. The mill may have been built due to increased opportunities for transportation of goods brought about by the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal (constructed 1766-1777). It is first depicted on Burdett’s 1777 map of Cheshire but other than marking a mill, no detail is given of the arrangement of buildings, mill pond etc. The earliest detailed mapping to show the mill is the Betchton tithe map of 1841. The map shows the mill at the western end of a large mill pond (the abrupt end to which implies the presence of a dam although this is not marked). The head race is assumed to be covered over as there is no channel marked between the mill pond and the mill building itself (which housed it’s wheel internally). The tail race is shown exiting the mill building to the west. Two further buildings are shown to the north-west of the mill, Roughwood Mill House and an outbuilding. The 1876 edition of the Ordnance Survey shows little substantive change to the study site with the exception that the mill pool is shown as greatly reduced in size, fed by a canalised stream and with the former extent of the mill pond shown as marsh. The mill pond dam is more clearly marked from this point onwards.

In terms of the condition of the mill complex at the date of the assessment, the mill, millhouse and the associated out building had all been subject to extensive alteration. Some of the original fabric of the outbuilding survived as part of an extended building, used as a garage and games room. Elements of the original Roughwood Mill House also survived although the building had been greatly extended. The mill building itself survived with relatively little external alteration, however, all windows had been replaced with modern double glazing and internally it had been converted to leisure use, including the addition of an indoor swimming pool. The extent to which all of the buildings within the mill complex had been altered, reduced their integrity as a heritage asset. The water management system associated with the mill, including the mill pond dam and tail race, still survive, and the mill pond itself, although now in-filled/silted up, will still survive as below ground remains.

<6> Lanpro (Norwich), 2017, Archaeological Building Recording: Roddymoor Mill House, Hassall, Cheshire East, R4258 (Client Report). SCH8611.

Following on from the desk-based survey (source 5), an archaeological building survey (level 2) was undertaken in 2017 to record the Higher Roughwood mill complex (mill building, mill house and associated outbuilding) prior to its demolition. A photographic record of the buildings of interest was undertaken in November 2017; for the mill, the photographic record was supplemented with measured survey and a drawn record. Floor plans were provided by the client for the other buildings which were used to annotate the photographic record.

The former flour mill is sited in a small valley and aligned on an east west axis, running parallel with a watercourse to the south that once would have fed a large mill pond to the east. From the OS mapping, the mill pond was present on the site in the early 19th century, and it appears to to indicate that a sluice gate fed water to an underground culvert which would have powered an internal water wheel. Above the mill, and to the north west, the former mill house sits on the northern slope of the valley overlooking the mill. The original brick built mill house was extended during the late twentieth century to form a large six bedroomed detached property.

The flour mill was constructed from Flemish bonded brick, three stories high, including a basement level. The roof, at time of survey, was modern and covered with concrete grey pantiles. In plan, the building was wider at the eastern end and had a single-storey range projecting from the north elevation. The west gable of the mill had an off-centre ground-floor doorway, slightly elevated and accessed via concrete steps on the outside. Above this there was a semi-circular arched headed window opening fitted with a multi-pained modern window frame. The tail race, identified on the early mapping, was still present on the site but ran only for a short distance and had been converted to an ornamental garden feature. The south elevation of the mill, had four levels of window openings, including a basement level. The window openings all had segmental arched heads with projecting stone sills, with exception to the two ground-floor windows at the eastern end of the elevation which had slightly flattened arches. The window openings to the basement level had flat heads with an inserted lintel. The basement windows were exposed by a steep incline excavated at the western end of the mill. The north elevation of the mill had two levels of window openings which match those of the south facing elevation. Internally, the mill had been converted into a modern gymnasium and a swimming pool which occupied the eastern half of the mill. The ancillary buildings to the east of the mill were modern dating from the latter end of the twentieth century, including a stable block and storage sheds attached to the eastern end of the mill building.

The mill house was converted in the twentieth century to a large, six-bedroom house. The principal façade faced south and was symmetrical in design, with a central porch and a projecting front-facing gable to either end forming wings. To the rear of the building, the north elevation of the modern house retained some evidence of the former mill house building in the form of a surviving gable and part of the east-facing elevation of the earlier building. Apart from a curved chimney breast and a couple of exposed wooden purlins, the interior of the house was modern. To the east of the house there was a single-storey, single-cell outbuilding with a grey slate roof, a chimney stack and gabled doorway in the north elevation.

<7> CFA Archaeology Ltd, 2018, Roddymoor Mill House, Hassall, Cheshire East: Archaeological Evaluation, R4259 (Client Report). SCH8613.

To complete the archaeological evaluation of the Higher Roughwood Mill complex an archaeological evaluation was undertaken in April 2018. Prior to excavation of the trial trenches, the mill building had been demolished to slab level. Four trenches were excavated across the site of a new building in order to record any archaeological remains associated with Roughwood Mill. They were located to target the mill power systems, the mill dam, the mill leat and the site of the demolished building to the south of the mill.

A flagstone floor and stone walls within the footprint of the mill were identified (trench 1) and are likely synonymous with the original construction of the mill complex, most probably dating to the 18th century. The mill had undergone significant changes since its original construction, and no traces of any of the mill’s power mechanisms or machinery were uncovered. One of the most significant changes was the infilling of the mill pond and subsequent landscaping of the grounds surrounding the mill and mill house, evidence of which was seen in the other three trenches. However no relationships could be inferred between features and deposits that were present in different trenches due to the varying nature of the deposits and the truncation caused by later landscaping/demolition of features on the site.