Rea Way Markers: Hazelwell Millstone

Way Marker Type: stone - natural/manmade - in situ/moved/lost

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A trace of old Hazelwell Mill lies in the undergrowth at the edge of the River Rea.

Hazelwell Mill was a water-powered mill, using the force water stored in the millpool and pushed down a millrace onto the waterwheel to turn grindstones. At first, this was in the grinding of corn for the manufacture of bread - the mill first being noted in 1704. By 1800 it was being run by William Penn, a gun barrel borer, so the grindstones were turned to bore out the centre of gun barrels, a common trade in and around Birmingham. 

In 1979 Hazelwell Mill was being demolished, and local residents decided to try and save some of the millstones which had been found at the site. The plan was to break them up and add them to the riverbed. Instead, many were saved and taken to Sarehole Mill, in Yardley, to be preserved, but one remained in Stirchley. The stone is hidden away on the bank of the Rea, tucked tight in a quilt of green moss.

1882 OS map of Hazelwell Mill.