Building record 1132/1/5 - Mill Buildings & Mill Cottage, Thornby

The mill is at the north-east corner of a large complex of 19th-century farm buildings of which it is an integral part.

{1} In the early C19th a large mill and a mill cottage, now abandoned, were built near the medieval settlement of Chilcote.

{2} The farm building complex is reputed to have been built in the early 19th century. The remains of the waterwheel suggets it may be a later replacement of the original wheel. It is of two storey, built of a yellowish brick (said to have been made on site but the colour is unusual for Northamptonshire) with a slate roof. The east side has doors at ground level and first floor level.
The north side has small rectangular windows in both storeys. Exterally and adjacent to the north side is a deep wheel-pit with the remains of an iron water-wheel. These consist of the iron wheel-shaft,cut off spokes and a segment of the iron circumference of the wheel in the bottom of the wheel-pit. In the west wall of the pit is the opening from the underground culvert, suggesting the wheel was a pitch-back. The water outlet was at the bottom of the east wall of the pit from where it was in an underground culvert, which discharged into a stream in a valley about 20m distant.

{3} Earthworks of former mill pond and dam.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.187-8 site 2 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> STARMER G., 2002?, Northamptonshire Watermills Survey 2001 - 2002 (A-H), p. 117 & photos (Report). SNN105520.

<3> Northamptonshire County Council, 1994, The Northamptonshire National Mapping Programme, SP6574_017 (Digital archive). SNN117168.

Record last edited

Aug 10 2026 9:56AM