Building record 4634/4/1 - Former Mill, rear of Preston Deanery Grange

Former grain mill of brick to the rear of the grange. Two storeys with attic.

{1} The former grain mill is located on an E-W alignment to the rear of Preston Deanery Grange. The mill is a four-bay two-storey construction (although the attic storey was also utilised) of red brick and was formerly roofed in slate. There is a single storey extension to the south-west of the main building. The site visit was conducted part way through refurbishment works, hence some original features were remaining, but others including the floor, roof, three of the grain hoppers and some of the machinery had been removed.
The south face of the building is the main elevation and has barn doors and a single window on the ground floor and three windows to the first floor. The extension is located to the western end of this face. The only opening on the north face is a central barn door. There is a single window at attic level in the gable end of the east face, but the west face is blank.
The ground floor of the building is currently open with a wooden staircase with entrance door in the south-west corner. There are large barn doors to north and south sides. The owner informs that the floor was covered with blue engineering bricks, but that several areas had been cemented over. The developers have recently removed ‘modern’ machinery from the building, but there are several original features surviving. These include driving gear (in the form of wheels and pulleys) running parallel with the central beam in the ceiling, a corn crushing mill on a purpose built brick platform and two recesses in the floor on the north side of the building. One of the recesses (to the north-west) was clearly purpose-built and lined with brick, the other to the east of the barn door may have covered over with brick / cement flooring. The corn crushing mill was inscribed “R Hunt and Co Ltd. Earls Colne England. U128 Mark BMH. Improved Corn Crushing Machine”
The first floor originally contained the bases of four grain hoppers to the west end of the building — these were aligned in two rows of two. One grain hopper in the south west corner survives complete with a small wheel, presumably to moderate the flow of grain. There is also a small engine against the west wall which may have been used to power the grain mill at some point. There are three windows on the south wall, but no evidence for a blocked window in the location of single storey extension. The only other features on this floor were a number of trap doors leading down to the ground floor and the remains of some equally spaced wooden battens around the north-east corner of the building.
The attic storey is currently accessed through an opening on the east side of the building, there is a modern ladder in that location at the moment and it is assumed that access would always have been by ladder. The upper part of the grain hoppers were originally accessed at this level, although three of these have now been removed as discussed above. Above the grain hoppers lies a raised platform allowing access to each of the hoppers and to the east end of this was a open shoot leading to the first floor the wheel for the winching mechanism for this still survives in the roof. There is some evidence of blackening around this mechanism. The only other features in this area were a number of trap doors leading to the first floor. The roof above the attic space is of scissor-brace construction — in order to allow head-room for working in the attic.
The single storey extension is of red brick and has a lean-to roof butting up to the main building. The structure is mis-aligned with the main building and was clearly built at a different time. The floor of the structure is part brick, part concrete which may indicate the location of some former machinery. The south frontage of the building has a modern garage door and there is a decorative wooden window of three panes on the east side of the building; it is assumed that this is a re-used window from a higher status building. There is a narrow brick doorway between the extension and the main building, which may have pre-dated the main structure. There is a large water tank housed in the roof level of the extension.

<1> Ballinger, J., 2000, Grain Mill, Preston Deanery Grange, (checked) (Report). SNN100458.

<2> Ballinger, J., 2000, Grain Mill, Preston Deanery Grange, (checked) (Photographs). SNN100459.

Record last edited

Nov 11 2022 8:56AM