From Bradbury Chapter 30

On the outskirts of the town is Double Mills, traditionally so called because another mill once stood on the opposite bank. If so this second building could only have been Wood or Badgkin Mill, across and lower down the river, and a more likely origin for the name is the existence of two wheels in separate channels, both fed by a race from a weir upstream, the Sal Dam. A length of substantial walling is all that remains of this weir. Wood Mill is referred to in 1478 as “newly situated opposite the corn mill”, [2] which places the origin of Double Mills before this date. It remained a corn mill for over 400 years. A drying kiln once stood on the higher side and there are still the mill house and outbuildings on the lower.

There was a period when the mill was the centre of much activity which almost changed its character. In 1741 the Duke of Somerset leased it as a corn mill to John Fearon for 21 years at an annual rent of £16. [3] The Duke’s successor, Charles Wyndham, visited the works of the Low Mill Edge Tool Company in Egremont. He was impressed and thought “such works must be for the good of the County”. In April 1754 the firm approached the Earl, saying they understood John Fearon wished to resign his lease and “that situation being very convenient for our Iron Forge, we are very desirous to have a lease of the said mills for sixty three years with liberty to build Iron Works on the common adjacent”. [4]

A letter towards the end of the following year refers to the Earl’s agreement to this and points out that

“it will be necessary to give us leave to pull down, alter and rebuild, and make enlargements on the adjacent Common; and highten and inlarge the weers, and to lengthen, widen and deepen the Mill race or races – as we shall find necessary for the obtaining a sufficient fall of water to carrie on the works, and to build store houses and other conveniences on the adjacent Common”. [5]

The Company further asked leave to proceed without waiting for the completion of the legal arrangements.

By the following June all was set for the development of an iron forge on the site, with a large mill pool to power the trip hammers, bellows, etc. Then suddenly for some reason the whole proposal fell through. Barepot ironworks near Workington was built about 1762 and the name of the negotiator involved was the same, so it is possible that this replaced the Cockermouth scheme.

Fearon had already left, but he returned and the mill continued to grind corn under a succession of lessees, who usually took it for 21 years. We quote the list of equipment signed as belonging to the landlord when George Hodgson took the mill in 1814. – [6]

Two Water Wheels

Wheat Mill, cogg Wheel and Trunnels

Dressing Machine

Barley Mill for Skilling Barley

Pitt Wheel and Trunnels

Mill Tackle for raising Stones and ropes

Sack Tackle.

One pair of Wheat Stones

Dressing Mill and Card Wheel

Hopper and hopper Stangs and crubbs

One pair of Gray Stones

Machine and two arks

Band wheel for Machine

At the end of this ten-year lease Hodgson made a proposal to rent at £90, almost twice the previous rent, “the Earl of Egremont agreeing to expend the sum of £200 in building a Dwelling House and Stables and in purchasing a pair of French Burr Mill Stones and putting up a Barley Mill”.

French stones were made from several pieces of coarse flint quarried near Epernon and bound by iron hoops which, when used as the top stone, split open the ears and ‘shelled’ the grain from the husks. They now stand against the bank by the mill.

A lease of 1860 includes not only the mill, warehouse, dwelling house, etc., but Simonscales Wood (on the slopes of Cocker Brows) and fourteen acres in five closes adjoining the mill premises.

The metal rims of the two wheels remain alongside the mill. An offer of £5 was made for them in 1942 but the Council (now owners of the mill) refused to sell. The stone channels have slots in which boards were inserted to divert the flow.

In 1900 the mill was marked on maps as ‘Disused’. Two years later the UDC bought it for £600 to use as an isolation hospital, to obtain electricity by water power or as the basis of a recreation ground. [7] None of these plans materialised and it was eventually let to the Youth Hostels Association, Cockermouth UDC being the first council in the country to help the YHA in this way. It was opened on 13 April 1933 in the presence of E. S1. J. Catchpool, national secretary of the newly formed association, and Richard W. Hall, a Cockermouth enthusiast. In the early days the warden lived in a nearby house (the Council divided the mill house into two, but it has recently reverted to one dwelling). There is now a resident warden. There is accommodation for 28 and this attractive hostel becomes increasingly popular.