Monument record 523/5 - Lymm Slitting Mill

Lymm Slitting Mill. Watermill, successively used as a cornmill, slitting mill for making nails and a foundry. Poss began in early 1600s. Used for slitting wrought iron into strips for nail making. By 1720 used for making barrel hoops for the gunpowder works at Thelwall. 1800 - leased to woollen manufacturers who used it for textiles. 1835 - mill pulled down to the height of the dam wall. Area became a Victorian beauty spot and in c.1905 the dam wall was breached, allowing mill pond to drain away. After this, it soon silted up and became overgrown. 1968 - site explored by Lymm Local History Society - excavation of wheel pit. 1971 - Excavation of wheel pit. Wheel pit made of sandstone blocks, 8.3m long x 1m wide. Wheel 5.4m diam and 0.91m wide, and of raised undershot type. Sluice gate in front of wheel was 0.15m thick. Entrance to wheel pit was walled up, prob when site was made into a Victorian beauty spot. Wheel pit entrance prob originally arched, 2.7m high.

<1> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 2/23-25 Johnson B 1974 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<2> Council for British Archaeology, Various, CBA Group 5 Archaeological Newsletter, 23/10 Johnson B 1974 (Newsletter). SCH547.

<3> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 27/7 Johnson B 1976 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<4> Warrington Guardian, Warrington Guardian, 29 March 1974 (Newspaper-Magazine). SCH3683.

<5> Lymm & District Local History Society, Various, Lymm & District Local History Society - Newsletter, Johnson B 1973 65/2 (Newsletter). SCH2040.

<6> Lymm & District Local History Society, Various, Lymm & District Local History Society - Newsletter, Johnson B 1973 68/4 (Newsletter). SCH2040.

<7> Lymm & District Local History Society, Various, Lymm & District Local History Society - Newsletter, Hughes E M 1974 70/1-3 (Newsletter). SCH2040.

<8> Lymm & District Local History Society, Various, Lymm & District Local History Society - Newsletter, Johnson B 1974 70/3-10 (Newsletter). SCH2040.

<9> Lymm & District Local History Society, Various, Lymm & District Local History Society - Newsletter, Johnson B 8+30+39+41 (Newsletter). SCH2040.

<10> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 4/30-31 Bearpark P J & Johnson B 1976 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<11> Post Medieval Archaeology, Greene J P 1976 10/174-175 (Journal/Periodical). SCH2670.

<12> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ68NE20 1986 (Index). SCH2487.

<13> Various, Current Archaeology, Johnson B 1974/45/312-314 (Journal/Periodical). SCH1031.

<14> Oxford Archaeology North, 2009, Lymm Slitting Mill, Lymm, Cheshire: Archaeological Excavation, R3069 (Client Report). SCH5449.

Report on the excavation in 2005 of Lymm Slitting Mill, probably the best surviving example of its kind in the country. These excavations built on the results obtained from earlier excavation work between 1968 and 1974 and has permitted some re-interpretation of the conclusions drawn. It has also facilitated the production of a detailed plan of the site which, in it original format incorporated two waterwheels, each some 4.88 metres (16ft) in diameter. The main rolling and slitting area was situated between the two wheel pits, and will almost certainly have been a single, open-plan room. Other original elements of the mill included a furnace occupying the northern part of the main room, and two rooms within the eastern part of the mill, which appear to have been used as workshop and/or office areas

<15> Miller, I, 2019, Rolling to Mechanisation: Excavations at Lymm Slitting Mill, Industrial Archaeology Review, 2019, I.Miller (Article in Journal). SCH8952.

Article discussing the archaeological work undertaken in 2005 at Lymm Slitting Mill, placing it in context of 18th-century slitting mills in north-west England.

The archaeological and historical significance of Lymm slitting mill has been recognised since the 1960s, although the physical remains were neglected and inaccessible until the inception of the Lymm’s Life Project. The excavation of the slitting mill, which formed a key component of the wider project, has allowed well-preserved structural remains of the mill to be exposed, and has facilitated an understanding of the chronological development of what is probably the most intact 18th century slitting mill in England. The work has also provided an example of Quaker investment in the Cheshire iron industry. Most importantly, however, the project has allowed the surviving remains to be consolidated, and the site to be interpreted and presented to the public as a monument to the area’s important industrial heritage.