Cat and Fiddle Mill Dale Abbey · Derbyshire · England

Cat and Fiddle Mill stands off Ladywood Road at Dale Abbey. It is a post mill of Midlands type, with the body rotating about the head of the post while receiving added support from rollers running on a track around the roundhouse. The upper crosstree is dated 1788, although the use of reused timber means that the date does not necessarily prove the first construction of the mill.

The mill was initially built as an open-trestle post mill. In the nineteenth century it was altered with the addition of the sandstone and brick roundhouse, traditionally dated to 1841 or 1844. The mill was not raised during this change; instead, the floor was constructed below outside ground level to allow access beneath the crosstrees. This conversion gave the mill its Midlands-type form, now one of only three such mills preserved in the country, and the other two are substantially rebuilt.

The structure combines a circular tapering gritstone base, later brick buttresses, and a weatherboarded timber superstructure with a gabled top. It has plank doors, a broad hinged step ladder, a turning post, four wooden spring sails, and a tailpole. The body is supported by a massive crown tree. Inside, the surviving machinery includes the wire machine, millstones, windshaft, brake wheel, and drive wheels. A 1981 description recorded two pairs of millstones: Derbyshire grey stones for animal feed and French burr stones for wheat flour. A corn-drying kiln once stood to the south-east of the mill; drying ceased around the end of the nineteenth century and the kiln was removed.

The mill was purchased by Stanton Iron Works Co Ltd in 1912 and was maintained by the company for many years. It finally ceased commercial operation in 1952, although it was still in working order. British Steel Corporation later sold the mill by tender in 1982, together with the adjacent mill cottage, and it passed into private ownership. Strong winds damaged the mill in 1987 and again in 1995, and it was repaired after both events.

Cat and Fiddle Mill was listed on 2 September 1952 and is now Grade I. Its listing recognises the exceptional survival of a Midlands-type post mill with sails and internal machinery. The mill remains one of Derbyshire's most important windmill survivals and a rare preserved example of a regional post-mill form.