 A lock was installed here to make the river navigable but the business eventually collapsed due to competition with the Trent and Mersey Canal.The mill was used for grinding flints for the pottery industry, locally mined plaster, and dyestuffs when it was owned by Samuel Lloyd of the Birmingham banking company.Activity in this area is known to date from 3,500 bce as a log boat was discovered in nearby Shardlow which contained stones quarried at King's Mill.