Built by Richard Arkwright, it was the first cotton mill in the world to use a steam engine, though this was used to supplement the supply of water to the mill's water wheel, not to drive the machinery directly.

Construction of the mill building in brick and stone was completed by June 1780, and the reported death of a young man attempting to climb on the water wheel suggests that it was operational at this date.

[2] After initially investigating the purchase of a steam engine from the Birmingham firm of Boulton and Watt,[3] Arkwright installed a reciprocating steam engine, probably manufactured by Francis Thompson of Ashover, to supplement the occasionally inadequate water supply.

[2] This was a medium-sized engine with a 26-foot-long (7.9 m) beam, an 18-foot-diameter (5.5 m) flywheel[2] a 30-inch-diameter (760 mm) cylinder and a stroke of 5 feet (1.5 m).

[5] The empty grade II* listed building was listed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register but in 2018 was noted that a major phase of repair and conversion work had been completed.