British Listed Buildings

Listing Text

The following building shall be added to the list:-

SW 95 SW ST STEPHEN IN BRANNEL GWINDRA ROAD
(East side)

3/10001 Chapel Mill

- II*

China stone mill and associated pan kiln and linhay. Late C19 on site of former grist mill, extended
slightly later. Granite rubble with granite dressings; cast-iron and wrought-iron machinery;
corrugated iron roof. PLAN: rectangular plan mill, originally a symmetrical plan with central
wheel-pit with large pitch-back waterwheel flanked by 2 pan rooms with round pans, later extended
on the left to provide another round pan driven by the same wheel. The mill has a wheel opening
flanked by 2 doorways at the front. Access to the basement containing the geering and drive shaft
(in an axial passage) is down 2 flights of stone steps to cross passages left of the wheel and by an end
doorway direct to the central axial passage in the right-hand end of the mill. The passages have
vaulted brick ceilings. In front of the mill is a rectangular reservoir and at an angle near to the front
of this on the left is the masonry support for the former launder from the leat. At the rear of the mill
are the roofless ancillary buildings. Immediately behind the mill are 4 settlement tanks; behind this
a rectangular pan kiln with a round chimney on its left and a coal store on its right; behind this is the
linhay for drying the china stone. Behind all this is a walled yard containing the walls of buildings
last used as a slaughter house. Right of the mill is the former mill keeper's cottage, mid C19 at the
front and incorporating an C18 partly cob house in its rear range, now roofless, not included in the
listing. EXTERIOR: the mill is single-storey over a basement and has 2 doorways at left and right
at the front. The left-hand doorway is approached across a bridge which spans the winding access
to the original basement cross passage. There is another basement doorway left of this for access to
the pan geering that was added. There is a window opening to the left-hand return towards the rear,
and there is a central basement doorway underneath. INTERIOR has limewashed rubble walls and
the original 11-bay queen strut roof structure, built in 2 phases, the spacing wider in the bay where
the building was extended. There are 3 china stone pans, the 2 original pans built of segments of
dressed granite held together by iron restraint bands with threaded adjusters and there are holes in
the top of each pan wall, which probably originally held safety rails. The other pan is of brick and
this is unrestrained. Through the centre of each pan is a vertical drive shaft (driven via adjustable iron
gearing from the main drive shaft in the basement). Above each pan is a large cross beam which holds
the remains of the top bearings for the 4 rotating cast-iron gates, each of which held 3 vertical
timbers, originally with iron shoes for grinding up the china stone. The iron wheel is about 7 metres
in diameter and has wrought iron arms (spokes) and cast-iron shrouds (segments). The remainder
of the machinery including the drive shafts and the cogs is of cast iron, the bronze bearings having
been removed.
The buildings at the rear of the mill were very overgrown at the time of survey but the walls of these
appear to survive to their full original height and there are granite posts to the otherwise open front
(rear-facing elevation) of the linhay. HISTORY: Chapel Mill was used for grinding china stone
which was used to give support to the china clay used in the manufacture of porcelain. The mill was
also used to grind sand, which was used for abrasives, and for grinding feldspar. The mill is post 1880
as it is not marked on the 1880 O.S. map and ceased working in 1953. Chapel Mill is the best
preserved and most complete example of its type to have survived from the mills which served the
Cornish china clay industry. It is the only example to have retained its machinery; its survival is
therefore of considerable importance.


Listing NGR: SW9485253102

Source: English Heritage

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.