More information : SP 0864 5797 (FCE) mill known as Ragley Mill is situated some 150m NW
of the former site of the Benedictine abbey of Alcester (SP 05 NE 2).
In 1242 William de Botereaus and Peter fitzHerbert each granted the
abbot and monks of Alcester their half of a mill (then a corn mill)
and meadows called 'Halemede' and 'Mulneholme'. In the later post-
medieval period both the mill's name and function seem to have
altered; by the eighteenth century it was being used as a needle mill
and eventually became known by its present name. Numerous companies
subsequently occupied the mill until the 1920s when the buildings
were used as dwellings and cattle sheds. In the late 1980s the whole
complex was extensively renovated and divided into multiple ownership
as individual dwellings.
The mill was formerly served by a leat taken off the River Arrow
about 350m further north at SP 0855 5831; excess water not required
by the mill flowed over a weir into the present course of the river.
The water system between the river and the mill is still largely
traceable, and a number of grinding stones and a shot wheel remain
intact on the site.
The above description is summarised from a detailed report on the
remains of Ragley Mill written following a level 3 RCHME 1:1000 scale
survey of Alcester abbey conducted in May 1992. The results of the
survey are held in the NMR archive. (1)
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