There has been a mill at Cheddleton, Staffordshire since the 13th century, but the peak of its fame came much later in the 1800s, in its service to the porcelain industry, writes Phil Barnes.

Cheddleton Flint Mill & Museum is to be found three miles south of Leek in Staffordshire’s Churnet Valley, just off the old turnpike road which is now the A520. The mills are powered by water from the River Churnet whilst most ‘goods’ used to enter and leave via the Caldon Canal, which runs adjacent to the mill. A preserved means of canal transport is berthed next to the crane and wharf, in the form of the The Cheddleton Flint Mill Industrial Heritage Trust’s narrow boat Vienna.

The flints which were used in the potteries came from such diverse sources as Brighton, Gravesend, Isle of Wight, Southern Ireland and the east coast of England. The flints found on beaches are ‘boulder flints’ whilst those that came from chalk pits (another source of flint) are ‘chalk flints’.

The reason for the flint grinding process was its use in bone china manufacture, along with other additives such as Cornish stone, bone and, of course, the raw china clay. These components were introduced into the porcelain industry by Josiah Spode before 1800, after experiments by Thomas Frye who successfully developed the introduction of calcareous substances into pottery.

The history of the mill at Cheddleton is obscure, but a corn mill is recorded as standing on the site in 1253. The north mill on today’s site was believed to have been built around the 1750s next to the older south mill, which was formerly a corn mill. Both mills were enlarged after 1783 when the brick tax was introduced. This event is defined by the larger size of brick used in modifications to the two mill buildings. Some of the last alterations to the mill complex are recorded as being in 1953 and complete closure of the mill came in 1967, when a preservation group was formed. Its purpose was to collect artefacts from the flint milling industry and move them to Cheddleton to display them in a museum setting.

The sequence for the flint milling process is described: After collecting the flints and transporting them to the mill by barge, they were off-loaded at the wharf by manpower. The flints were loaded into the two kilns with alternate layers of coal and flint being used at a ratio of one cwt of coal to one ton of flints. This was burnt for three days with the calcined flints being extracted from the bottom of the kilns. A plateway of 25in gauge was discovered buried in the flint kilns and probably dated from around 1777 when the canal opened. This plateway was used to transport the calcined flints from the kilns into the mills.

The flints were then taken by hoist to be discharged into the grinding pan. The pan could take a flint charge of around 11/2 tons and this would be ground in water for 24 hours. After this, the thick creamy fluid would be gravity-fed into the wash tub below. In the wash tub the flint was mixed with a large quantity of water and agitated by rotating wooden gates. The purpose of this was to separate the fine material which was suspended in the water and run off into the settling arc (tank).

The water in the arc was run off by means of vertical plug tapings in the plug plate as the flint settles to form a slop. The slop could either be pumped into barrels for use in slop form or pumped into the slip drying kiln which was coal-fired. The kiln heated an open tank through flues. After all the water was evaporated, this tank could be dug out to create blocks, or ‘cake’. This material was then transported to the potteries for use in the manufacture of ceramics.

End of the On-line article.
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