Nether Alderley Mill 2.52

Nether Alderley Mill is a 16th-century watermill located in Congleton Road (the A34), to the south of the village of Nether Alderley, Cheshire, England. It is owned by the National Trust, and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is a unique example of a triple overshot waterwheel system, two of which are in working order. It is one of only four virtually complete corn mills in Cheshire.HistoryThe earliest reference to the mill is in 1290, but this was replaced by the present mill in the 16th century. None of this mill's original machinery has survived. The present mill was the manorial mill of the Stanley family. The machinery was replaced in 1850 and in 1871. From the 1880s to 1914 the mill could be operated by a portable 10 hp steam engine. The mill closed in about 1939, and the building became derelict. It came into the ownership of the National Trust in 1950. The Trust restored the mill into working order in 1967–70.Architecture and machineryThe mill is constructed in buff-pink ashlar sandstone, and has a long cat-slide roof of Kerridge stone-slate. Its plan is rectangular. The roof weighs about 200 tons, and is carried in an Elizabethan oak frame. The rear wall of the mill forms the dam for the lake supplying the water for the mill; this also acts as a moat for Alderley Old Hall. The water drives two overshot wheels of 12ft and 13ft diameter. Each operates separately, forming in effect two distinct mills with its own machinery, the water passing from the upper wheel to the lower one.