The crane stands above the mill on the canal wharf below which are the kilns that have been used for burning Flint and Ochre for use in the potteries. Also Lime-stone. to produce quicklime which was needed by builders.
There are two small mills here each with their own water wheels. The calcined flint was taken, crushed and run to the mill in little trucks along an iron plate- way.
The truck was rotated on a turntable to be hoisted up through the trap-door and then unloaded into the large Grinding Pan on the upper floor. Mixed with water the slop-flint would be run off, then dried in the slip-drying kiln.
The millers cottage was built of sandstone in the 1800’s.
In the living room there was a large cast iron cooking range made about 1870. This was fuelled by coal and used for boiling water over the open fire, heating or cooking food in the oven at the side. In the back kitchen was a copper boiler for washing clothes, a low sink with cold a tap and most importantly a mangle for squeezing water out of the washing which then speeded up the drying process. Unfortunately the narrow-boat ‘Vienna’, built in 1911 by F.M.C. at Saltley in Birmingham, no longer moors on the canal beside the mill. She had to be sold in 2008 due to escalating maintenance and insurance costs.
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