Docton Mill and its adjoining leat, head weir and terrace have been traced back to Saxon times, probably before the Norman conquest. "A more likely date would be upwards of 150 years earlier, after the death of King Alfred in 901. By that time the Royal Manor of Harton would have been well established, inspiring confidence in the surrounding settled farms and promoting the new technology of water powered milling, to enhance their living, and above all process the larger quantities of grain they could now produce". Extract from "A Millennium for a Mill" by N. S. & I. D. Pugh.