One of 6 mills on the river Flit, the mill was originally built by the Monks of Dunstable Priory. Records show a mill on this site since the 1085 Domesday.
The crown wheel is a horizontally mounted wheel on the first floor, the 'stone floor'. It is connected via an upright shaft from the great spur wheel on the ground floor. The crown wheel drives a shaft on the first floor from which a number of belts were used to drive machines such as the bolder, corn cake crusher, oat-roller and extractor fan.
False promises of a three week turn around by a Sheffield forging company claiming to make a shaft from billet turned out to be a pipe dream; six months of nonsense, excuses, failure to communicate and false promises. Eventually we gave up calling them. They are a disgrace to Sheffield and British industry.
A local supplier of traction engine parts is now on the case and making excellent progress.
In the meantime, we're shoring up the floor around the gear box.
