In 1886, a beam engine and Cornish boiler were installed to allow operation when the river's flow was low.

[citation needed] The waterwheel was the mill's principal source of power for about 40 years, except for a time during World War I when the government installed auxiliary stationary steam engines, and the mill was commandeered by the War Office to produce props and duck-boards for use in the battlefield trenches.

[3] In 1969, a working party from the City and County Museum (now the County Museum) at Woodstock surveyed the site and began negotiations with the Duke of Marlborough to restore the beam engine and boiler; and in September 1972, the engine was successfully steamed for the first time in sixty years.

[4] It also has several day books from the mid-19th century, showing the names of workers and details of their earnings and day-to-day jobs.

The mill has a working forge, where visitors have the opportunity to make their own fireplace pokers.