Old Town Mill, 1827. Approx length 91ft, width 24ft. On bank of R Maun off Bridge St. No longer used as a mill but as a warehouse. All the textile machinery and fittings of the mill itself have been removed. There were 2 waterwheels, enclosed and beneath ground level, and each was fed by a different stream of water from a mill pool which no longer exists. It is stone built with some brickwork on one wall where a boiler house was attached - a later extension, used to generate steam power after water power was discarded, no longer exists. Mill had 5 storeys, but the 2 uppermost were destroyed in 2 fires, the latter one in 1901. Dating suggested as 1746 (?). (1)
1608 mention of 2 water corn mills and a horse mill on the site of 2 ancient mills. Leases of Town mills 1744 and 1746. Cotton mill in 1776 with mill, warehouse, watercourses, wheels, shafts and water corn mill. Fairbanks 1827 drawing shows a head of water of 5ft with a wheel clearance of 7 1/2in. Cotton mill was 4 storeys high until the 1840s when a fire reduced it to 2 storeys. It was an L-shaped building. The E end had an external wheel, the other was centrally placed internally along the other arm of the building and the skew arches under the mill for the tail race are interesting. It was partly burnt down in 1907 and rebuilt. It is now a restaurant. (2)
Town Mill … was originally built as a corn and malt mill in the 1740s. It was converted to cotton spinning in 1795 and, following a fire, two upper storeys were demolished and the building served as a warehouse until conversion to a bar and restaurant. (4)
The single mill mentioned in Domesday Book as being in Mansfield, Skegby or Sutton was probably on or near the site of the later Mansfield Mills, just E of St Peter's church. A deed of 1653 described "two water grist mills under one roof called Mansfield Townemill built with stone and covered with slate". Sometimes called "Church Mill", to distinguish it from Field Mill (M4049). (5)
Converted to a public house in c.1983.
See M4013 for New Town Mill.

Data Held (Document). SNT2647.

Sketch, Industrial Survey

Data Held: Ground Photograph (Ground photograph). SNT2646.

2 BW print, SMR

Listed buildings slides, 17 slides (Photograph). SNT2648.

<1> CBA, Industrial Survey (Published document). SNT184.

Other Refs: IA4 50/9

<2> Morley D, 1997, Corn and Cotton - Waterpower in Notts (draft), p 21 (Unpublished document). SNT1693.

<3> Chapman J, 1774, Nottinghamshire - approx 1in (Map). SNT550.

<4> Palmer M & Neaverson P, 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p 109 (Monograph). SNT5.

<5> Thoroton Society, 2007, TTS, pp 89-93 (Serial). SNT2594.