The find was entirely accidental, which is part of what makes it interesting. Below ground, preserved in the anaerobic conditions of the river valley's SW bank, lay the structural bones of a working mill from the late seventeenth century.

The excavation recorded an earthen platform measuring 6.8 metres east to west, flanked by the surviving bases of drystone walls to the north and south, which together formed the foundation of a mill building whose upper portions would have been timber-framed. A timber-lined head-race, the channel that directed water onto the wheel, was also identified, along with a substantial base-beam some 27 metres upstream from the platform, over five metres long and bearing mortise cuts on its upper face, which may represent the dam of a mill-pond. The mill is interpreted as a vertical undershot-wheeled type, meaning the wheel sat in the flow of water at its base rather than receiving water poured over its top. Dendrochronology, the science of dating timber by its growth rings, placed one of the recovered oak timbers at AD 1679, plus or minus nine years. Alongside the structural remains, excavators found post-medieval pottery, hand-made bricks, and clay pipes characteristic of the late seventeenth century, all consistent with that date. In total, fragments from eighteen timbers were recorded and then re-buried at the site to preserve them. The project was financed by the National Monuments Service and reported by Hayden in 2014 and 2015.