Preston under Scar – SE 078912
Dr Raistrick’s suggestion that this mill was on the east bank of Keldheads Gill, in Leyburn township, was wrong. His proposed site for the mill is actually in Wensley. Nor was Preston mill on the site of the later Keldheads mill. It was on the west bank of Keldheads Gill, which is in Preston, near the Stokoe condenser.
The earliest record of Kell Heads (Preston) mill is a map dated 1723, and there is nothing to add to its early history, except to remark that if the Lords Bolton had an earlier mill, this is a good site for it. The suggestion that Preston mill was replaced in 1840 is wrong, however, because it was still standing in 1851, when it is shown as ‘Old Smelt Mill’ on a plan of Lord Bolton’s mines.
Further information and references can be found in:
- Gill, M.C. Yorkshire Smelting Mills Part 1, Northern Mine Research Society Memoirs 1992, British Mining No 45, pp 111-150
