I have been looking into the history of Baxby Mill recently and some really fascinating information has come to light. I have been focusing primarily on the history of the mill and how water from the Elphin Beck was carried to the Mill to provide power. There is quite a lot of information on the history of the property, and this can be found here:
Husthwaite Local History Society: Welcome (husthwaitehistory.co.uk)
Parishes: Coxwold | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk)
But what about the water mill? How did it operate? How did water from the beck travel to the mill building in sufficient volume and speed to turn a water wheel? Well you might be intrigued to discover that there was never a large mill pond at Baxby. I was quite surprised to discover this as many similar sites typically rely on a large mill pond to provide water pressure or “Head” and sufficient water volume to force the water wheel to rotate. Not in this case though. At Baxby Mill the water to power the mill was supplied by a rather unusually long mill race, or channel which extracted water from the beck some 700-800m from the mill site, and in fact pretty much where the beck passes under Elphin Bridge Lane (the lane from Husthwaite to Carlton Husthwaite). I was alerted to this feature by an old map (I forget the date but 1800s) discovered online in an MA Thesis 2011 by Annie Richardson (Agriculture and Settlement in Medieval Husthwaite and Baxby, North Yorkshire, followed by Annie’s book Medieval Field Systems of Husthwaite). It got me thinking so I utilised the rather wonderful resources I have through my work and was able to get Lidar images done for the fields surrounding the mill. And look what this revealed!! Magnificent: The route of the old mill race is still evident in the Lidar image and also in aerial photography. Anecdotal evidence suggests there was a small, and rather modest mill pond close to the mill buildings which controlled the water flowing to the wheel. This part needs further research. I have been informed that this small mill pond was likely filled with rubbish by the parish in the late 1800s, although I have no evidence to confirm this. It is quite likely true however, because at that time there were no real laws and regulations regarding waste disposal and may small local dumps can be found across the UK where the parishes just sorted things out for themselves.
I feel an archaeological investigation coming on!!
John Law Dec 2023 (He can be contacted via the history society website)