In Lathkill Dale
In the delightfully picturesque Lathkill Dale there is ample evidence of its industrial past - providing you realise what you are looking at. That is not a problem when looking for relics associated with the Dakeyne Engine. In 2006 English Heritage completed a major restoration of the ruins of the Bateman House clearing trees and bushes, digging out to floor level and excavating the debris from the two shafts below the house. Using new pathways and stairways, it is now possible to look down the beautifully constructed engine shaft to the level of the sough into which the water from the engine was discharged. But of the engine there is no trace.
tunnel under the floor of the house leading to the engine shaft shown on the right
The goit is behind the house, some 20ft up the hillside. Half a mile upriver is the shallow dam the Dakeynes built to divert the water into the goit.
this unusual stone shuttle controls the level of the river behind the dam
and thus the water level in the goit
There is nothing else directly related to the Dakeynes, but the in the valley there are many shafts, spoil heaps, a Cornish Engine House and traces of the stone towers carrying an aqueduct.
The Dakeyne Mill and Ladygrove
The entrance to Ladygrove is still dominated by the now silent Flax Mill frowning down on the little terraced cottages where my grandfather was born.
the mill frowns down on the the empty first floor
little cottages (2002)
But surprisingly the mill is little changed since the Dakeynes left it. The link block between the 1826 mill and Daniel's original flax mill has been demolished and whilst the original cotton mill has been incorporated in a modern warehouse building (and the ground floor filled in) it is still there. The Bell Tower dominates the complex and water from the Regulator still pours down the pipe from the penstock into the cellar where the turbine is housed although the latter has not been in use since 1974.
Across the lane is a house, once the Mill Forge and Foundry. To its right is a high earth bank which must have been built to allow the levelling of the hillside for the Engine House.
Mill Yard with Ladygrove in the Engine House stood on
background (2002) the high bank (2002)
The lane becomes a steep and rocky path as you enter the valley beyond the mill. Level with the Regulator at the bottom, it is some 50ft or so above the the next dam, the Fancy.
looking across the Regulator (2004)
the view down to the Potter,the third dam (2002)
And here it levels out, following a contour line along the side of the valley. This is the line of the goit. In fact this is very evident - the ponds are still there and in many places the goit itself exists, albeit as just a narrow ditch. Some 200yd along the path there is the wall of the dam built to divert water from the brook into the goit.
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hole in dam delivered water to goit
the goit is on the left of the path 
one of ponds on goit the dam to divert water into the goit
Returning along the goit until the point where the path drops down to the mill there is another path out of the valley but which climbs up the hillside. It passes a quarry dating from the 1890's and then drops down again almost to goit level where it enters a narrow lane. Here some 100ft above the mill is Moss Castle, now empty and neglected.
Moss Castle supplied the water to the Romping Lion (2002)
The Dakeyne Houses
It is perhaps the family houses that will prove to be the most enduring legacy of the Dakenes. They are after all the only parts of the once great estate still used for their original purpose. All are within a few hundred yards of the mill.
Knabb House high on the hillside above the mill was the original family home. It was probably substantially rebuilt by Daniel in the latter part of the 18th Century. His eldest son John, a solicitor, was the owner by the time of the backruptcy and since he was not involved in the proceedings, it was not included in the disposal of the assets. Daniel was to remain there for the remainder of his life.
Knabb House (2005)
Ladygrove House (originally The Green House)
Ladygrove House at the bottom of Sydnope Hill was originally The Green House and later Glenview. It was built byJoseph Dakeyne in 1796. Edward and James and another unmarried brother, Peter, who worked with them at the mill lived there after the bankruptcy.
The Holt
The finest of their homes was The Holt.Today still a fine example of an unspoilt Georgian house it stands below Moss Castle at the bottom of a steep field. It was built by Daniel's second son, also called Daniel, a barrister and noted antiquary. The Dakeyne Bank was here and the vaults existed until the 1970's. Daniel died in 1806 and his widow, Mary, had to leave. Some years later Mary and her children bought the house again. Two of the sons suceeded to James' estate and continued to run the flax mill.
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