Dating back to 1775, this flint grinding watermill was built to supply the growing pottery industry in Staffordshire. It was constructed with massive 700mm thick solid brick walls and a heavy oak framed roof structure.

It was designed to enable the mill the capability of handling the stresses from the grinding machinery. Advancement to steam power in the 19th Century allowed flint grinding to be integrated into factories, flint milling ceased on site and the building was subsequently utilised as an ancillary workshop for the adjacent flour mill.

In the 20th century the building was converted into a maintenance garage for lorries operated by the flour mill owners. Finally abandoned in the 1960’s, the old Flint Mill became a dumping ground. Its water supply was also cut off when the upstream dam was destroyed by floods in 1987. By 2010 the structure had begun to collapse and an ambitious restoration plan was required.

Protectahome were invited to create a sympathetic waterproofing design for the earth retaining structure, a semi basement which is built into a steep bank of the foundations of an earlier stone mill that occupied the site.

Our qualified surveyor designed a type C drained protection waterproofing system selecting products by Newton Membranes. As part of the huge restoration programme, our technicians installed over 150m2 of Newton 508 and created a fully maintainable system by the installation of Newton Basedrain drainage channel.

The property now has a Protectahome long term Guarantee and since completion, it has featured in Channel 4 TVs Restoration Man Series.