Mill near Seathwaite Beck, Borrowdale

Summary

In 1887, in anticipation of success in Robson's Level (20118*1) the company built a mill to grind the graphite in order to produce pencils.

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Description

In 1887, in anticipation of success in Robson's Level (20118*1) the company built a mill to grind the graphite in order to produce pencils. They also built a smithy to equip the new level. A photograph of the two structures taken shortly after their construction shows the smithy to have been a substantial building although nothing survives today (Lax, A. 1995).


Situated west of the River Derwent is the remains of a rectangular walled structure that measures 6 x 4 metres. The walls rise to 1 metre and are cut into the side of the slopes. The wheel pit is north of the structure and measures 8 x 12 metres. This pit is 2-3 metres deep, the south side has a revetment wall. A run off channel runs in a straight line away from the pit towards the river, this measures 1 metre wide and 0.5 metres deep. Immediately west of the mill is a small pond which measures 14 x 7 metres. A Possible feeder channel connects the pond with the beck, a second run off channel is over 1 metre wide and is in the southeast corner of the pond. This second channel runs behind the mill for 10 metres, there is no evidence for the overshot pipe leading down from the beck to the mill.


There appears to be no evidence for the smithy that was marked on a 19th century map. The concrete area is possibly the site of a wash house for cleaning wad from the nearby mines. The spoil heap is possibly the spoil resulting from the cleaning of the wad (Borrowdale, Note Book 1).

The stone from both buildings was probably robbed to be used for buildings in Seathwaite. Fortunately a number of earthworks have survived around the mill. The only stonework that survives is in the eastern corner of the building; it is below the surface of the rest of the building and may have housed some of the gearing mechanism from the wheel. A rectangular chamber is clearly visible, measuring 1.8m by 4.2m internally, within walls 0.6m wide. The walls are well built of dressed stones and survive up to 0.7m high; in the two walls which are parallel with the wheel pit (20118*68) are two structural openings, now rubble-filled. On the south-western side of the stonework is the earth platform which would have provided the foundations for the rest of the front of the building; a slight groove in the surface of the platform probably marks the course of the robbed-out building wall. The platform is 2.3m high and is 5.4m wide and 7.5m long (Lax, A. 1995).

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