File:Sheep grazing beside the River Bure - geograph.org.uk - 829560.jpg

English: Sheep grazing beside the River Bure. The view was taken from the public footpath that starts at the eastern end of the bridge over the mill race > 829608. The former Buxton water mill can be seen in mid distance.

The existence of a watermill at Buxton was recorded in the Domesday book of 1085; the mill was last rebuilt (as a working mill) in 1754 by William Pepper, a merchant living in Buxton, the building being constructed of white painted brick and weatherboard, with a pantile roof. The millstones, used for grinding animal food stuffs and flour, were driven by water power. 98% of the milled wheat was grown locally, and in its heyday Buxton mill produced 1 ton of flour per hour. A silo was added in 1930, followed by a dryer in 1947 and in 1970 the mill was closed; first used as tea rooms then as an art gallery and craft centre, and later as a restaurant, the building was destroyed by a fire in 1991. Reconstructed by architect Keith Reay from 19th century North American pitched pine, salvaged from throughout Great Britain, this was the to-date largest timber-framed reconstruction to take place in the UK. After conversion into a hotel in 1998 the building has since been converted again, this time into flats. http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Watermills/buxton.html.

The sheep seen in the foreground are Soay sheep, a rare breed of primitive sheep and very similar in appearance to the mouflon seen wild in Corsica, Sardinia and Cyprus; they are small, fine-boned animals with short tails and a fleece that is shed naturally > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/829594. Soay sheep are classified as "vulnerable" on the RBST survival watch list. The flock of Soays grazing the pasture downstream from Buxton mill consists of wethers (castrated rams).