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Sarehole Mill

R

Rod

Guest
Visited Sarehole Mill today. Had a great talk with the miller he was very busy, I understand the mill was working for the first time this year so he was pretty busy adjusting the stones and speed of the wheels. Heres a few pictures and a sequence taken with a mobile phone which should play if you use apple quicktime a free download. I even nabbed a little bit of freshly milled corn, it's texture not as fine as I imagined it would be. I was able to ask many questions about the mill, and he had a great knowledge of how the mill works. The whole building seemed to be moving, it very much felt alive.
 
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Sarehole 2

A couple more pictures showing the mill pond and brook.
 
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Rod thanks for posting the lovely pictures and the vidio, I have never been to Sarehole Mill, I now would love to go. I have put it on my list of places to visit!
 
Suggestion

I suggest you check on their calendar and go on a milling day, it really is brilliant and doesnt cost anything to go have a look around, thats great value isnt it!!
 
Rod...Loved the pic's .......the Mill in 1964 before they renovated it with danger keep out notices on the doors
 
Mill

I remember talking to you about that very picture, and yesterday we saw the evidence that the roof has been lowered so it's now below that window below the apex.
 
Rod, I stopped out side their Saturday about 10 AM on my way to a canal tunnel I needed to get a look at and was going to go in but my love of the canals took over.
The mill ceased grinding corn at the end of the Great War 1919 and it was still lived in till 1959...the waterwheel was done away with (it became obselete)in the mid 19th century when they built the chimney stack and installed a steam engine, but they still used the waterwheel when the steam engine was not working (progress)...I have a photo of the mill across the pond but have to dig it out ...
 
Corn

I have some flour which was ground there yesterday, unfortunately because of health and safety laws they cant grind and sell the flour produced.

One of the two waterwheels is in working order and was turning yesterday. The miller explained many things to me. The gearing on the mill is in two parts, a lower part which looks like its cast from iron. The upper parts are made from wood. Each wooden tooth is made to be replaced easily so that if there is a catastrophic failure the wooden teeth sheare off and can be replaced easily and fairly quickly in a matter of hours, this negates the issues that would arise if the Iron gearing were to shatter, this might take a good deal longer to repair. Incidently the wooden teeth are I was told made from wood of fruit trees, this being a naturally self lubricating kind of wood, this means that no grease could therefore come into contact with the flour.

There is still a steam engine on the site, but while I took pictures of it, my attention was drawn to the mill wheels and the stones grinding corn. The water supply to the mill isnt great so it doesnt run at what would have been its full operating speed, but it is magic to be in there when that wheel is turning, the mill does have a life of it's own.
The miller said that there have been suggestions that at some point in the future they might dredge the water course that supplies the water and try to restore a better flow, I can only imagine what it must feel like to be in there if the mill was going at full pelt.
 
Rod...Millers never lived to a great age because of the Flour dust and when the mill was running at full pelt I was told the atmosphere became very volatile and a spark could burn the place down.....how true it was I am not sure about ...
The Pic.... I posted the building on the left was the Millers House in the 19th century
 
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Rod lovely pictures, do you mind if I download a couple!! There is a member of this forum that works there in the visitor centre. :)
 
Your Welcome

Your most welcome to use the pictures. I have a few others I took too, I realise I should have taken a whole lot more but I was so enthralled with looking at the bulding too :redface:
 
Found the pic I was looking for Rod, Sarehole Mill looking at it from across the mill pond
 
All my favourite things

Ill be there Colin..... all my hobbies & interests old and new in one location.
 
Memories of the Mill

Hi,

I currently work at Sarehole Mill, and am trying to find out about it's past. I would be very intrested to hear about any memories any one may have of the mill, or the last occupent, George Andrew Junior, who died in 1959 (and is also a distant relative of mine).

Stephen
 
Cromwell,

Would it be alright if I could save a copy of the 1960's picture, as I do not have on for around that date. I though it would be beter to ask beforehand.

As for flour dust causind fire's, I believe that an insident of flour dust catching fire happend in Pudding Lane, London in 1666, and lead to most of the city being burnt down!

Stephen
 
Steven, use what you want for your own personal use..
and you are right flour dust is explosive
 
Fascinating Rod, I visited a Mill in Ottery St Mary Devon, it was a working mill, they sold the flour that was milled there. When i got home after the holiday, i was going to make some bread but the flour was full of little mites, i'm afraid it ended up in the bin. Jackie
 
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