Broadley Wood Mill
Built on a stream around 1818, Broadley Wood Cotton Mill was owned for over 40 years by Charles Haigh. By 1874 it had changed hands and in 1927 went into liquidation. It was demolished around 1960.
Now only fragments survive of the stone walling against the mill dam. However, we can still see the remains of the brick and stone engine beds and, in the south-east of the site, the ruins of the stables.
If we had stood there in 1890, we would have seen a mill made of four buildings; one of which reached up to 4 storeys, a 40m by 18m single-storey weaving shed, and an engine house, which contained the surviving engine beds that were three and a half storeys high!
Originally, water power to the mill was provided by damming the stream to create a lodge. This is at the top of the steps. From here, water was fed directly to the mill's water wheel from the headrace, whilst any surplus water was diverted around the south side of the mill by the still existent overflow channel called a byewash. The waterwheel itself must have been where the leat (an artificial water channel) passed under the mill; this position was roughly in the centre of the mill complex and adjacent to the engine house to the north-east of the building.
It is probably because Broadley Wood Mill was built on such a small stream thatit was the first mill in the Dell to have abandoned water power in favour of steam. By 1879 the only power source recorded for the mill was a 45hp engine.
Today, Broadley Wood Mill is truly set in a wood. The ruins are home to Nuthatches and Tree Creepers, who take insects from the bark of trees by running, often upside down, up the trunks and branches. Wild Garlic (or Ramsons) nestles in the wetter areas where the water used to rush to the wheel.
