Description

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SHACKERSTONE
HEATHER ROAD
Odstone
Help Out Mill

(Formerly listed as Help Out Mill and Mill House)

II*

Mill, house and granary. Early C19 with granary dated 1912. Red brick, slate
roofs, and brick end stacks to house. Water powered corn mill with house
attached to left and attached granary set back to right. House: 3 storeys.
Regular 3-window front; glazing bar sashes with wedge-shaped lintels and key
blocks. Central door with fanlight within a round-arched recess. Granary:
4 storeys, 2 bays; glazing bar casements with segmental heads; round windows to
first floor. Datestone at first floor level inscribed "E.T.T./1912".
Interior: Plain staircase immediately in front of entrance to house with cast
iron balustrade. The mill wheel was replaced by a water turbine in 1902, but
the rest of the machinery survives in situ. B.O.E. p.341. To the right of the
house is the mill building; brick, Welsh slate gable-end roof; 4 storeys (the
upper floor added to accommodate machinery installed in 1902)1 symmetrical
3-window range. All windows with flat arches (the originals with keyblocks),
and 12 panes (except 1st floor centre which has 20). Former taking-in door to
2nd floor now blocked. Above the door is a stone inscribed 'E.T.' (Elijah
Timms) and beneath this some inserted bricks are inscribed 'TURBINE ERECTED/
AUGUST 1902'. To the right of this and set well back is the granary and engine
house, mostly of 1902 (but incorporating some earlier work); brick, Welsh slate
roof; 4 storeys. 2-window range, with 18-pane windows under segmental arches
to ground, 2nd and 3rd floors, and small roundels to 1st. Lean-to porch to
left. Datestone at 1st floor level inscribed 'E.T.T./1912'. Side elevation
(facing former branch of Ashby and Nuneaton joint railway) with 1st floor
roundel windows, various other openings and a timber-clad, gabled joist head to
top floor. Detached office building to rear. Interior: Of the original water-
wheel mechanism, the drive and gearing survives along with 2 of the original 3
stones. The importance of the site lies in the 1902 roller-mill machinery
which survives intact (and its association with the substantial remains of the
earlier water powered machinery). The roller mills are on the 1st floor.
Ground floor: bases of 5 elevators with outlet ducts from the roller mills,
inlets from the 1st floor hopper, and associated pulleys for belt drives. 7
sack filling chutes (shaft and spur gearing for water powered system also
survives on this floor). lst floor: the 5 roller mills are divided from the
rear part of the building (which contains the millstones) by a timber-framed
partition. Roller mills made by E R and F Turner Ltd of Ipswich. They are
complete with attendant belts and conveyors. 2nd floor: grain hoppers and sack
hoist flaps, with 6 elevators and pulleys. A number of specialised machines
also survive on this floor all associated with the roller mill cycle, namely 2
centrifugal dressers and various scalpers and sifters. 3rd floor: contains the
tops of the elevators with access to the hoppers below. Roller mill air
suction fan and extractor. Also several other machines, namely 4 dressers of
different types, an oat clipper and a cockle cylinder. The details of the
machinery are given in the Bulletin of the Leicestershire Industrial Society,
No 6 (1983). The survival of a roller mill with all its fittings in such a
complete state is extremely rare especially when it appears with the earliest
system of water-powered grinding stones. An intermediate power system (steam
engine from c.1860) has left minor traces.

Listing NGR: SK3791507811

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17540947

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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