Home
Tour
Location
Facilities
Buildings
Organisations
History
Local area
Genealogy
Picture Gallery
Archive

News
What's on

Screw Mill

The Screw Mill probably began as a corn mill. During the 17th century the water wheel was converted to drive the bellows of an iron smelting furnace. Hence the name Furnace Pool for the mill pond. The presence of iron and coal in the area led to this change of use.

The iron and coal were extracted either from open cast sites or shallow; bell-pits. Small nuggets of hematite were also found and these were exported to the button makers of Birmingham. Smelting was probably done using charcoal, but there is no reference to a forge on the site so it seems likely that the pig iron was transported to Burton on Trent for conversion to wrought iron.

The furnace was probably situated in the area of the present car park and cottages. Sometime around 1712 the furnace ceased operations and the site was used as a smithy.

The next phase in the development of the site came in 1767 when William Wyatt, an engineer from Burton on Trent, took out a patent for a screw cutting machine. The screws cut by Wyatt's lathes resembled a modern bolt rather than a screw and required the carpenter to drill a hole of the correct size. As the screw was turned in the hole it cut a thread into the wood. The mill at Hartshorne was purchased by a group of Burton businessmen who formed a company called Shorthose (often misspelled as Shorthouse), Wood and Company who also had another water driven manufactory in Tatenhill. Stebbings Shaw, historian and Rector of St. Peters Church wrote in 1796, that the screw mill employed 59 people, many of them children and that they produced an average of 1,200 gross of screws per week by means of 36 engines powered from the water wheel. Children and adults were employed from 1/- 6d to 19/- (see Archive/Glossary) per week.

The mill continued to thrive until changing technology, the invention of the gimlet ended screw and the introduction of steam power led to its demise about 1846. After this the mill was used as a saw mill and maltings.

Screw Mill was recorded as working in 1943 doing a little corn grinding and wood sawing.

The mill lay derelict for many years until, in 1987, Mr John Holland undertook a complete renovation of the mill. The 24 feet diameter overshot water wheel (one of the finest in the country) was removed and completely restored and is operating again, albeit via an electric pump and is an attractive feature of the pub and restaurant now known as The Old Water Mill.

The contents of this site are copyright © by Hartshorne Parish Council 2020. All rights reserved.