It is said that the waters of Hodge Beck have powered a water mill here in Bransdale since the 13th century. The current range of buildings, a veritable monument to early 19th-century ingenuity, was built in 1811 by William Strickland, a man with grand visions of increasing the mill’s capacity. To this end, he exuberantly installed a 16-foot overshot waterwheel.
This photograph, which shows the back of the mill, features the overgrown water race that once must have flowed to power that wheel. The mill was extended six years later, and a lintel above a window rather helpfully dates a further improvement to 1842, demonstrating that the miller was constantly seeking improvement.
The last corn was milled here in 1917, after which it continued the noble duty of grinding grist for brewers until 1953, because, naturally, a water mill should find itself in service to the production of alcohol once its bread-making days are over. Now listed as Grade II, it belongs to the National Trust, who seem uncertain what to do with it. Having once been repurposed as a humble bunkhouse, it now eagerly awaits a further renovation, which will doubtless occur at some indeterminate point in the distant future, when it will once again continue its destiny as a bunkhouse or maybe some role, if one can be found.
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