Limestone with a slate roof. Had large chimney until 10 years ago. Ceased cotton spinning c.1848, converted to a corn mill c.1886 by present user's grandfather. Now a store place and hen house for Farmer Collingham. Large dam alongside, now a meadow. Race led under centre of mill. Dam was fed by a mile long contoured canal from Langwith Lodge Lake. 3 rows of workers cottages nearby. At least 20yds of shafting with cog wheels in lower storey (--/10/1963). (1)
The remains of a cotton mill which must originally have been one of the largest in the district. Probably built in the 1780s. Certainly existed in March 1788 [cf] a drawing … in the Boulton & Watt collection. (3)
An early water-powered example of c.1780: four storeyed and originally sixteen windows wide (quite a remarkable size as early industrial buildings in Notts go). Three rows of workers' cottages were demolished in 1964. (5)
Built in 1786 for cotton spinning, water power being supplemented by a steam engine. (6)
Named 'Cotton Mill'. (7)
The surviving remains are of the cotton spinning mill which was erected c 1780 by GR and A Burden of Mansfield. It was originally 6 storeys high and 120ft by 33ft. It had an 18ft - 20ft diameter undershot waterwheel. Supplementary power was by Boulton and Watt steam engine from 1786 to 1846. (9)
See L5368 for mill race.

Langwith Mill was built in 1786, and is one of a large number of early cotton spinning mills built soon after the expiry in 1785 of Sir Richard Arkwright's patent for the Water Frame. This was the technological advance which made possible the mechanical spinning of cotton, and with it the development of the textile industry which has become synonymous with the Industrial Revolution and the factory system of manufacture. By 1788, over 140 Arkwright-type mills had been built, such were the potential profits to be made in the cotton industry, but many proved to be short-lived speculative ventures. Others provided a return on the investment for a longer period before giving way to the economic strength of Manchester's steam-powered mills and those of its surrounding satellite textile towns. The sixteen-bay Langwith Mill would have been a substantial development for 1786, but cotton spinning had ceased by about 1848 and by 1886, the building had been converted into a corn mill. Alongside the present building are the earthwork remains of a large dam, the mill's original power source. It is not clear as to when corn milling ceased, but the building is now unused and empty. Comparison of historic and present-day maps indicates that part of the eastern half of the mill has been demolished.

Langwith Mill is a plainly-detailed industrial building, originally designed as a sixteen bay, four-storied cotton spinning mill. It is built of coursed rubble limestone with ashlar dressings, stone quoins and lintels and a shallow pitch roof with a slate covering. There have been extensive external alterations, with blocked window openings in eight of the bays and both gables now clearly reducing the amount of natural light entering the building. This may have been done as part of the conversion from cotton spinning to corn milling in the late 19th century. Internally the mill is divided into two on the ground floor by the wheelpit but the wheel has been removed and the pit has been filled with concrete. Evidence shows the mill wheel was overshot or high breast shot. Large bridging beams spanning the external walls carry the floor with two lines of columns in cast iron and wood, the latter of which appear to be secondary.

The building's shallow pitch roof appears to be a replacement of the earlier roof structure, an alteration possibly associated with the mill's conversion to grain milling. These features, together with a timber stair in the south west corner of the building indicate that it was not of fire-proof construction, and the building's wooden floors are in poor condition in many areas.
The change of use from cotton spinning to grain milling required a complete re-ordering of the building's interior. Of this later phase of development there is only the partial survival of the mill's machinery and fittings. Part of the main vertical shaft survives at first floor level with a crown wheel and three associated bevel gears, together with long horizontal shafts with some surviving belt drive pulleys. There is a single bevel gear on a bracket which was driven by the main horizontal drive shaft. The bracket remains together with a pair of stones. There is also a grain feed hopper which fed a pair of millstones on the second floor.

Ruinous buildings to the east of the main mill structure are thought to have housed the main components of the steam power source. These survive as stone rubble structures up to 3m in places. A drive shaft is evident protruding from the eastern end of the mill building and may have been a component of this. Several buildings shown on late 19th century maps have now been removed. Also attached to the easternmost corner of the mill building and surviving to roof height is a drying house, very similar in form to an oast house. This is of stone and square in plan with a double hearth surviving below the floor and ground level with a drying floor above warmed by rising hot air. This building is not depicted on the early map evidence.

Langwith Mill is a relatively early cotton mill but the elements of the building which relate to its original cotton-spinning function are no longer clearly discernable from those of the later corn mill. The building is of conventional form for its main phases of development, and displays no significant architectural or constructional characteristics. It has undergone significant remodelling and internal alteration resulting from its change of use from cotton spinning to corn milling. There is little significant surviving evidence of power generation or transmission systems relating to its two main phases of development and the building has lost much of its interior. The mill pool survives as an earthwork feature but the water wheel and nearly all the internal machinery has been lost. What remains appears to be a hybrid amalgamation of the remains of the cotton mill and the later corn mill.

Although it belongs to the early phase of development of powered textile factories, Langwith Mill displays none of the innovative characteristics of the most significant survivals of a period when powered textile machinery, metal-framed construction and fire proofing techniques were being developed. The building has undergone significant alteration, part demolition and internal remodelling. Langwith Mill provides clear local evidence of the phenomenal development of the textile industry in the late C18 and early C19 throughout many parts of England. It remains a locally significant building which may be capable of further adaptive use, despite its present dilapidated state. However, when considered in a national context, and given the extent to which it has been altered, it lacks the degree of special architectural or historic interest necessary to justify a listing recommendation. This was assessed by Dr. C. Skinner (English Heritage) on Jan 6, 2009 (11)

Recorded by NRIM, photographed. (10)

Data Held (Document). SNT2647.

(4), Ind Arch File

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

7 BW print, 2A-4A, AA5A-8A, SMR

Listed Buildings Slides, (Photograph). SNT2648.

Unknown, 1788, Boulton and Watt engine (Plan). SNT4275.

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

Other Refs: IA3 53/3

<2> Pigott S, 1949, Hollins A Study of Industry (Published document). SNT1151.

<3> Smith DM, 1965, The Industrial Archaeology of the East Midlands, pp 76-8 (Published document). SNT1304.

<4> Reedman K, 1977, Pers Comm (Personal comment). SNT1180.

<5> Pevsner N, 1979, The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire 2nd ed., p 180 (Monograph). SNT4.

<6> Palmer M & Neaverson P, 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p 48 (Monograph). SNT5.

<7> Sanderson G, 1835, 20 miles around Mansfield - 2 in (Map). SNT48.

<8> OS, 1918, 1:2500, County Series 1918 (Map). SNT1027.

Other Refs: 18/5

<9> Morley D, 1997, Corn and Cotton - Waterpower in Notts (draft), p 23 (Unpublished document). SNT1693.

<10> Council for British Archaeology, 1963, National Record of Industrial Monuments (NRIM): Index Cards, No.NT71 (Index). SNT6095.

<11> Historic England, 2021, National Record of Historic Environment (Digital archive). SNT5271.