A little corn mill near Jodrell Bank (https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101139310-bate-mill-disused-water-mill-peover-superior).
This one of the few surviving examples of the 150 or so water powered mills in Cheshire.
A local told me it hasn’t been used for 40 or 50 years and mainly processed animal feed.
Starting in the attic, the grain is lifted by a water-powered hoist through a one-way trapdoor (sack flap)…
…before being poured into hoppers feeding the machinery below.
A ‘geyser’ mixer for blending animal feed with the spout on the ground floor.
The ground floor is a one-room deal, with two pairs of mill stones above the cogs in a compartment near the ceiling on the left.
The waterwheel powering the horizontal shaft is the other side of the wall.
A diesel (Crossley) was added at some point in a small extension on the other side of the building for extra power.
Some of the machinery inside. A Bamfords mill - not uncommon, you sometimes see these in old farms.
A few manufactured by Booth’s of Congleton - the one on the left is an oats roller, don’t know what the one on the right is.
Another oat-processing contraption, interesting since Bate Mill itself features in an old ad.
It’s difficult to know what to do with a listed building like this - without the machinery it’s of little interest, but with the machinery there’s no space for a residential conversion.
It could be turned into a museum, but there are already several of these in the area.
Incidentally, if museums are your thing I’d recommend the one at Stretton - only a few quid, you’ll learn far more about corn milling than you really wanted to know, and it’s quite impressive as the whole Heath Robinson thing grinds into action.
This one of the few surviving examples of the 150 or so water powered mills in Cheshire.
A local told me it hasn’t been used for 40 or 50 years and mainly processed animal feed.
Starting in the attic, the grain is lifted by a water-powered hoist through a one-way trapdoor (sack flap)…
…before being poured into hoppers feeding the machinery below.
A ‘geyser’ mixer for blending animal feed with the spout on the ground floor.
The ground floor is a one-room deal, with two pairs of mill stones above the cogs in a compartment near the ceiling on the left.
The waterwheel powering the horizontal shaft is the other side of the wall.
A diesel (Crossley) was added at some point in a small extension on the other side of the building for extra power.
Some of the machinery inside. A Bamfords mill - not uncommon, you sometimes see these in old farms.
A few manufactured by Booth’s of Congleton - the one on the left is an oats roller, don’t know what the one on the right is.
Another oat-processing contraption, interesting since Bate Mill itself features in an old ad.
It’s difficult to know what to do with a listed building like this - without the machinery it’s of little interest, but with the machinery there’s no space for a residential conversion.
It could be turned into a museum, but there are already several of these in the area.
Incidentally, if museums are your thing I’d recommend the one at Stretton - only a few quid, you’ll learn far more about corn milling than you really wanted to know, and it’s quite impressive as the whole Heath Robinson thing grinds into action.
