Monument record 4036/1/2 - Site of Crotia Mill Pond

<1> Bryant, A., 1831, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2114.

This map depicts the mill pond to the south of the mill complex.

<2> Castlering Archaeology, 2010, Crewe Green Link Road (South): Cultural Heritage (Client Report). SCH5647.

The mill dam and weir recorded by the Ordnance Survey 6 inch provisional map in 1938 are no longer recorded in 1954.

<3> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 421/2, 1846 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

This map depicts a long narrow mill pond to the south of the mill. The pond is c.240m long, but only c.20m wide (at its widest).

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ7252, 1877 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

This map depicts a long, somewhat sinuous mill pond. The mill pond is constrained by an earthwork on the western side of the of the mill pond. This feature, presumably the mill dam, continues to the south, forming part of the leat feeding the pond. An overflow weir and outflow leat are depicted on the western side on the pond c.50m from its northern extent. The map depicts sluices at the northern end of pond, adjacent to the mill.

<5> The GeoInformation Group, 2005, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review, 106G\UK\1459 (05/05/1946) or CPE\UK\1935 (17/01/1947) (Aerial Photograph). SCH4608.

this aerial photograph suggests that the mill pond has silted up, but the dam and associated leats are clearly visible as earthworks.

<6> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, 1m DSM Composite (15/04/2019) (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

Earthworks associated with the dam clearly survice between the modern A500 and the mill building.

<7> CgMs Consulting, 2015, Land at Basford, Crewe, Cheshire: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment, p.17 (Client Report). SCH7835.

the mill pond and dam are now infilled.

<8> Oxford Archaeology North, 2022, Land Adjacent to Crotia Mill, David Whitby Way, Basford East, Cheshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report, R4642 (Client Report). SCH9304.

An archaeological trial trench evaluation was undertaken in 2022 in advance of a residential development on land adjacent to Crotia Mill. In total, three trenches were investigated in the south of the wider development area, targeted upon features associated with Crotia Mill, as suggested by late nineteenth-century Ordnance Survey maps. Of these, one trench, located close to the former mill pond, was found to contain archaeological remains comprising two poorly preserved timbers, most probably representing the remains of a wooden sluice/gate associated with the mill. A small assemblage of finds, in conjunction with the historic mapping, indicate a late post-medieval date for this feature.