The earliest known quarrying for millstone production on the Longshaw Estate was at Yarncliffe Quarry in 1466, during the reign of Edward IV.

Yarncliffe (then known as Ernclyf from the Old English Earn, meaning Eagle) was at that time owned by the Eyre family of Padley Hall. Two brothers, Ralph and Robert, appeared to share the expenses and the profits equally between them.

They employed two millstone makers, one of whom went by the name of Jankyn Stonhewer, presumably one of a long line of stoneworkers. Stones were measured in 'hands', the upper stone being fifteen hands the lower stone being sixteen hands. Although there is some doubt about the exact size of a hand at that time 18th-century records of stones being sold at Bawtry indicate that a hand would have been 3 5/8 inches. This would give a millstone nearly five feet in diameter. Sometimes just a single pair of stones was sold, sometimes two or three, and on one occasion it is recorded that 21 or 22 stones were sold to the same purchaser at one time.

Yarncliffe continued to be quarried (although presumably not continuously) until 1939. At the time of the 1927 sale it was let to a Mr Henry Child at £40 per annum, and in the 1930s it was taken over by John E Nadin & Co Ltd who ceased production on the outbreak of the Second World War.

There is no physical evidence remaining of millstone making at Yarncliffe, but the Longshaw Estate boasts what is probably the most photographed group of millstones in the Peak District, near to the entrance of Bole Hill Quarry, just below the Surprise View. These stones were removed from the quarry before it was taken over by the Derwent Valley Water Board.

©National Trust

Millstones served three purposes: grinding grain for flour, grindstones for the cutlery trade, and for pulping timber for paper production. All three industries enjoyed times of prosperity and periods of decline.

Millstones for grinding wheat faced competition from the late 16th century onwards from stones from both France and Germany, which produced finer, whiter flour, but periods of war between England and France boosted domestic production.

Production of grindstones for the cutlery industry was virtually wiped out following the invention of Carborundum (silicon carbide) in America in1891. This new product was not only cheaper, but also safer. Flaws in millstone grit could cause a grindstone to explode, resulting in severe injury or death to the grinder.

Stones for pulping timber for the paper industry were exported all over the world between the 1890s and the 1950s, (with the exception of the war years) with a few being exported as late as the 1970s.

Other abandoned millstones can be found on the Estate in Bolehill Wood and in a small quarry at the top of Padley Gorge. They vary greatly in diameter and thickness; some are only partly made, presumably because some flaw was found in the stone part way through production. The frustration of the millstone maker who had nearly finished a stone before discovering such a fault can only be imagined.

Sources

• Millstone Making at Yarncliffe in the Reign of Edward IV - Rosamund Meredith,
• Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 1981
• The Production and Distribution of Peak Millstones from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries - J P Polak, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 1987
• Set in Stone - Ian Thomas, Peak & Pennine Magazine October 1997
• Mr Roger Sanderson