Arlington Mill was one of the biggest cornmills in the Cotswold area during the nineteenth century, and a steam engine was brought in to assist the massive water wheel, running six grinding stones. It was at this time that the structure of the building was reinforced with the huge buttresses you can see on the exterior of the building, and the iron supports inside the building.

Arlington Mill stopped milling corn in 1913, and the machinery was dismantled in 1914 and the metal was used for armaments in the First World War. The building fell into disrepair, and the Miller’s rights passed to the Trout Farm next door. The Trout Farm diverted much of the water to feed their huge fishponds, and there would now be insufficient water to drive the machinery.

In the early 1970s David Verey, an architectural historian, bought the sad old building and set about restoring it and turning it into a Museum. He found replacement mill machinery on the Bathurst Estate, and also brought in a small waterwheel from a nearby pub – however, none of this machinery is original to the building, as can be seen from the marks from the original huge wheel on the wall in the ‘Wheel Room’.

David Verey died in the mid 1980’s, and his daughter continued to run the Museum until 1995, when the building was sold once more. The cottages attached to Arlington Mill were occupied by mill workers and also used for storage, but have recently undergone a programme of renovation and redecoration.