21 - The Mill, Nottingham Road

Drawing of The Mill by Alan Bednall

There was originally a wooden windmill for grinding flour on Cheese Hill but this was destroyed by fire in 1689.

The four-storey mill was erected on Nottingham Road in the early part of the 19th century, on what is now known as Machin’s site. It was a steam-driven mill producing flour from wheat grown in the local fields.

In the 1900s it was converted into a soap factory, and then in recent times to a knitwear factory. The building was demolished in 1972, when Mr Len Machin built a modern knitwear establishment producing the Joywully jumpers, etc. This factory has now been divided into small industrial units.