Old Mill Loading Platform, Christleton

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 6 Sep 2021

Although there are a couple of planks missing from this hinged platform, it looks to be the real deal, which is certainly likely as this canal-side mill only stopped making flour in the mid 1970s. It went by the name of Butlers Mill, and ground the grain into flour used predominantly for animal feed, according to those in the know online. The grain was lifted from the barges, called Mersey Flats, by a cantilever hoist, of which there is now no evidence. Presumably onto this platform. The bottom of an overhanging bit of the old mill building can just be made out at the top of the picture, but it is worth looking at Image for a better view. Presumably (again!) there used to be a trapdoor in the overhanging bit through which the sacks of grain were hoisted. A bakery existed here until the 1930s and when I was growing up there was a Mill Stores here selling newspapers and football stickers, amongst other things. It must have closed in the mid 1990s I think. A bit of trivia found online is that the owners of the mill also owned the first petrol station in Christleton, which was sited on what is now Durban Avenue, on the opposite side of the A41. I was a bit startled to see the words 'Bakers Way' on the OS map, running alongside this section of the canal running past the old mill. Its name, however, is a red herring, having nothing to do with baking; it is named as a tribute to a Mr Baker, something of a big cheese in Cheshire footpaths in days gone by.

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