The earliest documentary reference to Loscoe Dam dates from 1330 (in the Derbyshire Assize Rolls) but it may well be older than this. It is thought the Dam may have originated as a fishpond for nearby Codnor Castle and that it was also used as a head of water for the Castle's corn mill. Somewhat later, in the 1580s, it provided a source of power for a short-lived blast furnace (one of the earliest in the country) built by Sir John Zouche of Codnor.