Hidden away in rural Cheshire, Stretton Watermill is one of the country’s best-preserved, water-powered corn mills. The mill was first recorded in 1351, and was repeatedly modernised until its final extension in 1819. The mill kept working until 1959 when the last miller, Albert Gregory, retired. It had mainly been used for the production of animal feed, but during the Second World War provided vital supplies of food for the nation.
The mill has an exhibition space and working miniature models. You can also see the machinery working, meet one of the millers, or have a go at milling grain for yourself.
The mill is surrounded by attractive countryside and makes an ideal stopping point on a walk or day out.
- Stretton Watermill is one of the oldest mills surviving in the North West and one of only a handful still demonstrating the grinding of flour.
- Visitors can see how millers used a natural form of pest control. Look out for the owl hole in the wall of the mill – it allowed barn owls in to catch mice nibbling the grain at night.
- Hidden from the outside, but visible to visitors taking a tour, is the timber frame of the 1630 mill building, complete with oak mullion window and slots for the wattle-and-daub panels.
