| Description | Records of E Caudwell (Rowsley) Ltd, flour millers, from 1912 to the closure of the firm in 1978, including documents relating to the Hartington mill/depot, Hall Farm at Rowsley, the Rowsley Reading Room and the Home Guard in central Derbyshire 1940-1941, and some personal estate records. Also includes the records for Caudwell's Mill Trust, including committee minutes, photographs, correspondence, visitor information and information on the machinery and buildings. |
| Administrative History | This business was founded in 1874 when John Caudwell (1827-1891) leased the Rowsley mill site from the Duke of Rutland. He built an entirely new structure which externally survives little changed, but the original millstones and water wheels had been replaced by rollers and turbines before the end of the 19th century. The mill may have produced only animal provender at first but within a few years was also milling flour. In 1926 the Hartington Mill was taken over and although later closed, a depot was retained there. The firm closed in 1978.
Caudwell's Mill Trust took on the lease of the mill and ran the site from 1980 - 2023. |
| Custodial History | Deposited in Derbyshire Record Office in 1986, 1993, June and September 2023. Added to the catalogue as part of the FindersKeepers project by volunteer JW. |