SNN110957 - Archaeological building recording: Boughton Mill Farm, Welford Road, Chapel Brampton (Boughton Parish), Northamptonshire, NN6 8AB

In late March 2017 an archaeological building survey of the Mill, Mill House and Mill Barn Boughton Mill Farm, Welford Road, Chapel Brampton (Boughton Parish), Northamptonshire (NGR: SP 7369 6575), was carried out prior to proposed internal alterations and extensions. Though the mill race and wheel house are still extant and the building is still externally legible as a former mill, internally Boughton Mill retains scant trace of its original purpose save for the incomplete penstock / sluice in the wheel house and similarly incomplete vertical shaft bearing at ceiling height on the first (stone) floor. From a historical perspective the mill is of interest as it illustrates well the adaptability of the unit to prevailing economic conditions having documented use as a corn mill, fulling mill, paper mill and finally a corn mill with subsidiary steam power. An association with a well-documented Daventry bookseller and stationers is an area that, though beyond the scope of this project, may repay further research. From an archaeological perspective the mill has only minor significance in the locality due to the loss of its machinery. The mill house, though of probable eighteenth century construction contains little of significance that may be confidently ascribed to this period or indeed the nineteenth century. The one notable exception being a leaded-light barred rear window to the pantry on the ground floor which is of 18th century vernacular appearance.