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watermills and windmills in Rutland The soils of Rutland are mostly suitable for growing wheat and barley. And some of that grain will need grinding into flour. From the late seventh century onwards landowners invested in watermills. They are located on suitable watercourses close to their estate centre. Some of them get mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086. But absence of a mention is not evidence for absence. Norman landowners monopolised all the mills on and around their estates. I have researched the seven watermills in lands held by Robert Malet in and around Barrowby. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries small horizontal millwheels were replaced by larger vertical wheels. We know very little about medieval water mills as the premises were demolished and rebuilt, sometimes several times, in the following centuries. The earliest windmills in England are thought to date from at least a hundred years after 1086. The first designs were wooden post-mills. These could, and where, moved from place to place as necessary. They were prone to being damaged by gales and to catching fire. There are no surviving post-mills in Rutland. Stone-built tower mills are a late thirteen-century innovation. But only after bricks became readily available in the eighteenth century did tower mills begin to outnumber post-mills. And it the remains of these, often converted into houses, have survive in Rutland and elsewhere. During the nineteenth century bigger milling businesses, usually in towns and cities, began to use steam power. But in the 1870s two-thirds of all English corn was processed in windmills. In the early twentieth century the availability of internal combustion engines rapidly made watermills and windmills obsolete and few were in operation by the end of the 1930s. What follows is my own attempts to research Rutland's watermills and windmills. I am aware that in the 1980s Nigel Moon, Anne Long and David Henry wrote books which might provide further details. But I have yet to access copies. watermills The 1884 OS maps for Rutland show a number of premises labelled 'mill'. From their location some are clearly watermills. Sometimes a millpond is recognisable but there is no label stating 'mill', so presumably defunct as a mill by 1884. There would have been watermills from about the tenth century but I have not established the likely locations of such early ones in Rutland. It is plausible that some of the mills operating in 1884 are on the same site (qv. Stenwith on the Lincolnshire-Leicestershire boundary). Ashwell Ashwell Watermill (or Astwell Mill) is a Scheduled Monument which includes the remains of the Old Hall with remnants of a medieval mill and ponds. Possibly the successor to a watermill mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086. The waterwheel was removed for the war effort about 1940 and the remaining machinery removed in 1978. The site is currently part of a guest house. Barrowden Barrowden Watermill was a historic mill on the River Welland. Its first mentioned is in 1259 and there are documentary records of structures built in 1637, 1677 and 1688. Although the mill is said to have been demolished about 1920, the same 1975 booklet says that in 1923 new wheels were fitted so it could power a woodturner's workshop making plough handles, washing up bowls and butterdobbers. Corn was ground for gleaners and allotment holders, especially barley to make meal to feed pigs. As the booklet was based on oral history collected about 1973 then none of this is reliable, especially regarding dates. Most of it was demolished but on the interior of the remaining wall are incised lines marking the height of major floods, including the 'BF' one in 1705 (BF: 'Big Flood'). A millstone and carved stones from the building are in a garden at the Old Tannery Yard which is adjacent to the former mill. A postcard of Barrowden Mill from before 1909. source Not to be confused with (but frequently confused with) the still-extant Borrowdale watermill in the Lake District. Brooke Shown on the 1884 OS map as 'Brooke Corn Mill'. The 'brook' which powers the mill and gives the village its name is the upper reaches of the River Gwash. The last miller at Brooke was John Allett who ceased milling in 1918. The house was then converted for use by grooms working at the Priory but was empty by the end of the 1930s. In the mid-1970s it was in ruins. The close proximity to Brooke Priory implies there was a mill here from the twelfth century. Caldecott The watermill in Caldecott was located on Mill Lane. It was a corn mill powered by the Eye Brook (sometimes referred to as the 'Little Eye' to avoid confusion with the River Eye which runs from north-west Rutland to Melton Mowbray). The mill seems to have ceased commercial operation around the start of the twentieth century, with the millstones reportedly broken up in 1925. The current building that houses Mill Garage now stands on the site of a later mill. Empingham The bone mill closed before 1890 and was converted to Mill Cottage in 1895. The last miller was Mr Jackson. The mill building is now known as Mill Farm (though seemingly domestic accomodation) and has distinctive curved wooden eaves. See Rutland History p141. Greetham Greetham's watermill was located south-east of village on the North Brook, a tributary of the Gwash flowing towards Horn. In 1884 the mill is shown as 'Mill House' (implying it was no longer a working mill) with a windmill about three hundred yards to the south-east. Greetham watermill and windmill in 1884. The doglegged road is the Great North Road, now the A1. The area is very different now, not least because of resumption of limestone extraction. Parts of the mill stream survive. According to an unreliable source, nearby are/were the earthworks of a manorial house. If this is true then this watermill may have originated around the tenth century. Horn About six hundred yards south of of the deserted medieval village of Horn (east of Exton) was Horn Mill. The wheel was still extant in the 1940s 'but in disrepair'. It is now 'Horn Mill Trout Farm'. If only more redundant watermills had been repurposed as trout farms! Because of the proximity to Rutland Water and the breeding progamme for ospreys, this trout farm built hides for birdwatchers to see osprey fishing at unusually close quarters. They estimate that the ospreys take about one thousand trout a year. So an average of three a day. But the income from tickets to the hide makes that very profitable! source There's five historic photographs of Horn Mill online. Ketton 'The watermill in Mill Dam of Church Road last milled flour in the mid-19th century, Mr Sardison being the last recorded miller' according to oral history published in 1976 which continues 'Subsequently the mill wheel provided power to pump water to the reservoir on the Empingham Road.' This water supplied the Hall where it also powered the bellows of a Cavaille Coll pipe organ (sold to Warrington Corporation in 1926). The same 1970s booklet states 'There was another mill in Mill Brig, below the Fishponds, but no one remembers this. Langham 'Disturbed ground by the brook near Cold Overton Road suggests a mill leet and this may have been the site of Langham’s earliest water mill.' source A tithe map of 1841 in Northamptonshire Record Office (T282) shows a Mill Close. North Luffenham On the north bank of the River Chater was a watermill, next to an inn and the railway station. It was owned by Molesworths. The watermill mostly produced flour. After 1910 the mill used steam power (installed in 1890 but not operational until 1892) to grind beans, maize, wheat and barley for animal feed. Barley collected by gleaners was also ground to make pig food. The watermill was used to pump water to the boiler for the steam engine. The mill was sold in 1927 and the steam-powered mill closed. But, according to a slightly confusing 1970s booklet, a miller called Mr Asplin continued to process animal feed by water-power until 1948 when the river changed course and the mill was forced to close. The former steam-powered mill was empty for thirteen years but in 1940 it was used to produce clips for rifle cartridges. In 1942 the Ryvitta company took over and used the premises to process rye for biscuit manufacture. This ceased in 1966 when the adjoining railway siding closed. Newall Engineering then used the premises to repaire grinding machines. A different but unidentified light engineering company was operating there in 1977. By 2025 the mill building seems to have been converted into appartments. The windmill in South Luffenham (see below) is a short distance to the south-east. To the south of the Chater (so in South Luffenham parish) is a hospitality business trading as 'Rutland Watermill'. But it is not on the site of the former watermill. Pilton At the eastern junction of the Wing and Lyndon turnoff there used to be a watermill. Some of the building stones and the mill race were uncovered in the early twentieth century. Seaton Seaton's watermill on the Welland. Note the nearby windmill (see below). The watermill was in use until the late 1930s. The last miller was a Mr Royce, father of the co-founder of Rolls Royce. Tickencote Finally a watermill in Rutland which has survived! It was built about 1731 by John Wingfield at the side of the River Gwash. Originally there was a large millpond. It went out of use by the mid-1930s. There is a good chance this is the successor to a tenth or eleventh century mill as a mill is mentioned in the Domesday Book survey of 1086. Tickencote mill in 2002. One of the pair of millstones on display. Note the complex, composite construction. Tinwell There were two watermills in 1086 although only one in 1227. A 'Corn Mill' is shown on the north bank of the Welland on the 1884 OS map. The close proximity of 'The Hall' suggests the latter is on the site of a tenth/eleventh century estate centre. According to a booklet published in 1976: In September 1887 Jelley's Flour Mills were severely damaged by the explosion of the 16 horse[power] boiler used to drive the mill, when the water was too low to supply power. Maintenance of the boiler was being carried out, and a heavy weight placed on the safety valve to facilitate work. The boiler, so pressurised, blew killing two men, Messrs Williams and Dexter, the boiler being blown some fifty yards away. The mill was repaired but damaged again when it caught fire in 1894. It was rebuilt yet again in 1896 by Mr Starsmore with water power bring used to produce flour. It caught fire yet again and closed in 1914. The building was subsequent used for farming purposes. Tolethorpe To the west of Tolethorpe Hall is a stone-built watermill with unusual cast-iron windows. Whitwell According to a booklet published in 1976 'In front of the Manor House (now Old Hall Farm) was the mill pool; it had been silting up for years, and records back to 1081 record a mill having been at this point on the site of the washdyke just below the outlet. All of this area is now being absorbed by the reservoir.' windmills Ashwell According to a booklet about published in 1976, based on oral history collected around 1973, 'It is said that 150 years ago [so around 1825] a windmill stood on Ashwell Rise.' It is not shown on the 1884 OS map. Barleythorpe The 1884 OS map shows a 'Mill Hill' west of village. Around the time of the First World War it was stated to be in need of repair. When it was demolished is not known. Barrowden The 1884 OS map shows a 'Windmill Inn' to the east of the village. This is now 'Mill House' and Grade II Listed. The Listing reads: House. Dated 1630. Coursed rubble stone with quoins and stone dressings and Collyweston slate roof with moulded stone end stacks and wing ridge stack. Stone coped left gable. 3 storeys of 2 3-light stone mullion windows, some restored, and a similar 1-light to left on the 2 lower floors. On lower 2 storey wing to left, door in C20 stone doorway and 3-light stone mullion with similar 2-light over, all with hood moulds. Extending left from this wing, a large extension of 1981. In centre of house front wall a stone tablet inscribed 'Ano. Dmi. 1630: Our life paseth awaie like a shado' (sic). On rear 1 and 1½ storey extensions and a stone tablet inscribed 'Sine timore domini omnia vanitas'. An inglenook and a stone fireplace with Tudor arch are inside. The name 'Windmill Inn' does not prove there was a windmill adjoining. Instead it could have been a property owned by one of the millers (as is the case for the Windmill Inn at Wymeswold, Leicestershire) and operating as an inn during the 1880s. But the village-edge location matches that of several known windmills. Belton A booklet published in 1975 states 'it is told that a windmill existed on Mill Close, but there are no details known.' Brooke There seems to have been two post-mills at Brooke but neither are shown shown on the 1884 OS map. One was located at NGR SK847052. This burned down in the nineteenth century. The mound became a Home Gaurd dugout in the Second World War but had been levelled by the 1970s when it was used to store road repair materials. The other one was at NGR SK853071, on top of the hill overlooking Oakham. The site is now a spinney. Large stones from the base were still visible in the mid-twentieth century.em Burley 'Millfield Spinney' and 'Bottom Mill Covert' are to the north-west of village. A possible mill-mound is on the 1884 OS map to north of these trees. Other than that no one seems to know anything about this mill. Caldecott There was a post-mill windmill located near Mill Lane but it is no longer standing. The exact date of its removal is not known. A windmill mound is said to remain but I've not checked this. More likely the building that houses Mill Garage now stands on the site of the windmill. Mill Lane is close to the Eye Brook and the existence of a watermill is recorded. The watermill seems to have ceased commercial operation around the start of the twentieth century, with the millstones reportedly broken up in 1925. Adding a windmill to a watermill was fairly frequently done. Cottesmore In 1884 to the south-west of village a windmill was shown with the comment 'in ruins'. There is also a 'Mill Lane' and pond to north of village, but as there is no watercourse nearby this was not a watermill. Presumably there was second windmill on, or near, this lane but had been demolished by 1884. Empingham 'Mill Lane' and 'Mill Close' are shown on the 1884 OS map to the south-east of village. While these could refer to the watermill a few hundred yards to the north, the close looks supsiciously the right size for a windmill. As of 2025 Mill Close seems to have become part of a larger field. Greetham The Greetham windmill to the south-east of village was a smock mill. It is captioned as 'Old Windmill' next to the Great North Road (A1) on the 1884 OS map. By 1932 only the dilapidated brick base survived. The base has long been demolished, and the site is now a quarry. About three hundred yards to the north-west was Greetham's watermill. Ketton Ketton windmill is a four-storey stone tower mill, built in the eighteenth century to the west of village. It is a Grade II listed building but currently derelict and its future is threatened by nearby cement quarry expansion. The Historic England listing reads: Tower mill, C18. Of squared stone, rendered. Tower of squat conical section, 4-storeys high, on plinth. Two door and 2 window openings to ground floor, window openings to south, west and east at 1st floor level, and to south and north at 2nd and 3rd floor levels,all beneath timber lintels. No internal floors or machinery remain. In the early 1970s the stump of another windmill remained beside the Empingham Road. The top was blown off in 1900 during a severe storm. A third windmill stood at the north-east corner of what is now Kelthorpe Close and a fourth on the Tiover Road at NGR SK976032. Nothing else is known about either of these. Langham A map drawn in 1624 shows a windmill on the north side of Cold Overton Road, which is to the west of the village. There is nothing on the 1884 OS map which suggests this windmill still existed. To the east of the village the 1884 map has 'Langham Windmill (disused)'. A post-mill was brought from Barleythorpe Hill in the 1830s and reassembled in Langham. It was pulled down in the 1880s, seemingly after 1884. Lyddington A post-mill is known to have existed on Windmill Hill on Thorpe Road. The foundations survived until the early twentieth century. Manton The 1884 OS map shows a mill to the south-east of the village, on the south side of the road to Lyndon (NGR SK886046). Allegedly it was burnt down by local boys in 1891 or 1896. Morcott On the boundary with Barrowden is a rebuilt tower mill. Morcott's windmill is Grade II Listed: Windmill, rebuilt recently as facsimile of earlier structure, and now a dwelling. Tall tapering brick tower of 4 stages, with various window openings with cambered heads and glazing bars. Wooden gallery cantilevered out at 1st floor level. New porch to ground floor. Onion-dome cap, with sails and tail piece. The site is used as an outdoor equestrian facility. North Luffenham A 'Windmill Spinney' is shown on the 1884 OS mao to the north-east of the village.. N.B. There is a different windmill, surviving as a ruin, nearby in South Luffenham. Oakham There were a number of mills located in and around Oakham. There is still a 'Mill Street' south of the castle. A different mill is shown to the north of town, approximately where there's an Oakham School car park near the Ashwell Road. It was up for sale in 1824 and described as 'a post mill five storeys in height', unusually tall for a postmill. This mill seems to have been built in the early 1800s before tower mills became popular, with the then-operational Oakham canal potentially offering easier transportation of grain and flour. 'The mill was owned by the Royce family, relatives of Henry, later Sir Henry, Royce. It was offered for sale again in 1866, being described as having ‘two floors in the roundhouse, four patent sails and a fantail, driving three sets of stones’. There are millers listed at the mill up until 1900, the last miller being Thomas Woods, which suggests it was in use to that point, but dismantled soon afterwards. It’s known that the millstones were broken up in 1925.' source A model of this mill survives in Oakham Museum. There's a photo here. Seaton The Seaton mill was a wooden postmill rather than a brick-built tower mill. It stood on Glaston Road at the brow of the hill until it was moved down to the valley in 1881, near to a watermill (see above). A windmill near the watermill on the Welland. 'Postmills were occasionally taken down from their post and moved to a different location. Seaton postmill was moved down the hill to be alongside the watermill. Thus one miller could look after them both and, hopefully, be able to mill all the time.' The windmill was used until about 1918 when the sails were sold as scrap and the main structure taken down, laid on its side and used as a hay barn. 'The body of Seaton postmill survived as a barn until the 1980s when unfortunately, due to a breakdown in communication, it was disposed of when it might have been saved for posterity.' source A sketch of this windmill, made about 1922, is online. South Luffenham South Luffenham's Grade II listed stone tower mill was built near Station Road in 1832 (according to the datestone over the door) using coursed rubble stone with red brick details. It was operational until 1908, even after a storm blew off its top in 1895. This suggests that a steam engine was being used by 1895. Only the walls survive, the roof and floors are missing. Uppingham west of town A windmill is shown to the west of the town on the 1884 OS map. It was a tower mill built of brick and demolished in 1912, the rubble being sold off for road repairs. In the 1970s the school's science block was on the site. Whissendine South-west of Whissendine is an operational tower mill. 'One of England’s few remaining fully operational nineteenth-century windmills, Whissendine windmill has towered over the village of Whissendine for more than 200 years. Today, fully restored, it produces plain, strong white and wholemeal flour. The mill was built in 1809 by the Earl of Harborough of Stapleford Park to replace an earlier windmill. The tenant millers were Arnold and Hayes.' According to oral history collected in the early 1970s this mill was constructed using stone removed from the walls of the park at Stapleford on the orders of Lord Harborough who thought the walls were keeping the foxes in. This mill remained in operation until the 1920s when lightning damaged one of the sails. Another sail was removed to balance things up and the mill continued to operate at half-power. Soon after one, on 20th April 1922, of the remaining sails was damaged in a gale and the mill closed. The last miller was John Hayes. Later owners maintained the mill until it was sold to Nigel Moon in 1995. He constructed a new top and four new sails. The mill began working again using windpower on 14th August 2009. Read all about it here: www.whissendine.net/whissendine-windmill There's also a short BBC video about the owner and restorer, Nigel Moon. Wing There used to be two windmills either side of the road running south from the turf maze. They were both post-mills and the eastern one was erected to replace the western one. The eastern one was irreparably damaged in 1895. Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2026 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/rutland

Rutland's history home page what's new? glossary bibliography Rutland's geology Rutland's boundaries Rutland's rivers long, long ago prehistoric Rutland Roman Rutland long ago Anglo-Saxon Rutland Rutland's place-names waterborne transport around the sixth century Rutland's early churches Anglo-Saxon sculpture in Rutland The Matter of Rutland what the Normans did for Rutland Romanesque sculpture in Rutland Rutland in medieval times Rutland's scratch dials Rutland's medieval carvings Rutland's sepulchral effigies Rutland's saltways Rutland in Tudor times Dissolution in Rutland not that long ago Rutland in the 17th century pinfolds and pounds in Rutland dovecotes in Rutland Rutland in the 18th century turnpiking Rutland Rutland's springs and wells changes in Rutland's agriculture since 1800 seems like yesterday Rutland's dialect Rutland's folk customs travellers in Rutland watermills and windmills in Rutland breweries in Rutland gasworks in Rutland ironstone quarrying in Rutland Zeppelins over Rutland redundant telephone exchanges in Rutland Second World War in Rutland WWII airfields and pillboxes in Rutland the making of Rutland Water Rutland Weekend Television free online history resources Victoria County History: Rutland volume one Victoria County History: Rutland volume two free PDFs of Rutland Record issues 1 to 50 old OS maps Historic England Listed buildings database Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland Open Domesday English Place-Name Society database Wikipedia list of places in Rutland (with links to village entries) Wikipedia list of people from Rutland researching and writing local history getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around Rutland Belton-in-Rutland History Society Cottesmore History and Archaeology Group Langham Village History Group Lyddington Manor History Society Rutland Local History and Record Society Uppingham Local History Study Group you may also be interested in free PDFs written by Bob Trubshaw Earliest Churches in Nottinghamshire How Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way Anglo-Saxon Leicestershire Conversations in Churchyards Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Bob Trubshaw's YouTube channel Introduction to medieval carvings Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque carvings How Anglo-Saxons found their way Anglo-Saxon shrines at fords Meetings at triangles Rota's Land and Franni's Land Reading Romanesque fonts Church and manor The significances of square headdresses Early churches and waterborne trade Charnwood slate gravestones and C18th trade routes Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire Roman roads in north-east Leicestershire Salt ways in Leicestershire Why Melton Mowbray needed to called 'middle town' Evolving Anglo-Saxon agriculture Nottinghamshire's earliest churches Ploughs not piety? Economic regeneration in the C7th Were Anglo-Saxon weaving huts women-only places? Vale of Belvoir Chronicle Barrowby Until Now website Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland