Northern Monument 25

Hightown cornmill - a fascinating little Jacobean building that still sits amongst the trees and the same flowing brook in rural Cheshire that it has done for more than 400 years. Built around 1616 originally as a cornmill during the construction of Dunham Massey, it was central to the design by Sir George Booth which saw the estate strive towards being almost entirely self-sufficient by working off the surrounding land. It later found new purpose as a sawmill before shutting down when the estate began to diminish. Fortunately it was never allowed to crumble into disrepair, and whilst it is no longer in industrial use, it was restored and much of the machinery re-constructed around 1980 including a fully working waterwheel. Allowing passers-by to experience one of Britain’s last remaining examples of a functioning seventeenth century watermill.