Though Aiskew Mill in North Yorkshire is tucked away down a public right of way which runs firstly above the harbour of Bedale Beck and then diverts off towards the railway line, and adjacent to the Big Sheep Little Cow visitor farm attraction, it is one to venture off the beaten path for.
Initially constructed as a hydro-powered corn mill in the late 18th century (though there has been a mill in Bedale recorded as far back as Domesday Book, compiled in 1086), and of red brick with ashlar dressings, its undershot timber waterwheel still remains, housed within a single-storey outshut (a later addition of the 19th century), yet is perpetually refrained from motion. The silted-up mill race runs behind and, internally, the mill still features its wooden machinery, comprising two sets of millstones.
So key was the industry to the local area that, in the 18th century, an attempt was made to make the beck navigable from Bedale to the River Swale in order to aid transportation of goods (including corn) and part of a grander strategy to see the Swale converted into a navigation pass from the River Ure up to Bedale. Unfortunately, the idea was abandoned owing to a lack of investment in the scheme and, in 1855, the railway was instead opened just up from the mill, thereby superseding the plans for a canal.
Little is known about many of the former millers, but there is record that the Park family were tenants in the 1860s, who had previously inhabited Kirkbridge Mill and been in the milling trade in the Scottish borders before moving to nearby Easby. As was also common practice at the time, the last working miller adapted the water wheel to provide electric lighting.
Address: Bedale Community Bakery, The Bridge, Bedale DL8 1AW
Books by Dr Emma Wells
