Walking through Mulgrave Woods towards Foss Castle, you’ll come across Barnby Beck, a river running east to west through North York Moors National Park. Crossing this stream at an old ford, you’ll see what looks like a miniature dam upstream, a set of ruins slowly being reclaimed by Mother Nature. These are the ruins of Lythe Mill. The ruins were once a three-story, water-powered corn mill built deep within Mulgrave Woods dating—as per an inscription in stone—to 1809. The mill had an overshot waterwheel, a design in which water is…
