Blue Flower

Thursday October 8th 2015 by Graham Bartlett.

There was only me on site today, as most of the volunteers were at Kings Lynn Museum on the Whaling course which was run in connection with the bone mill restoration, because whale bones were brought by boat from Kings Lynn and used at the mill.

My first job was to cut trees and nettles on the track near the mill as I noticed several overhanging on my way in.

Materials for winter protection were taken to site at the weekend when we had the water wheel turning, so the quantity was checked to ensure we have enough. There is a 100m x 4m roll of geotextile for covering the floor areas and machinery base, so these areas were measured and we have sufficient to cover all surfaces. There is a box of 100 white polythene sandbags with ties, and more sand has been supplied. Sandbags will be used to hold down fabric edges and to cover walls and paths. Three sheets of Celotex insulation foam boards are in the large container and these were measured and compared with the openings of the furnace, cistern and elevator pit. We have enough foam board if used carefully to cover all these areas in case we are unable to get a glazing panel for the elevator.

The water wheel bearings were oiled, and the bearing surfaces viewed. We will need to turn the wheel regularly to prevent it seizing up and to empty the paddles which fill with rain water. 

I then went into the cistern to take some more pictures, there is a little rain water in the bottom but our temporary cover seems to prevent further flooding. I took the chance to get more pictures of the whole site before covering up, as it was a sunny day and the surrounding fields looked good. I noticed the river level is higher than before, it is noticeably deeper on the downstream brick floor.

There were some recent finds which had been put in the container so these were recorded in the finds log. Also logged were two large pieces of wood with nails from the river, the bottom of a ceramic pot, and a piece of rib bone. For more items and details see the finds log.

After a cup of tea sitting on the grindstones in the sun I tidied up the site and removed the ladder from the wheel pit and the bridge over the trench, then checked the wheel is still chocked in place to make the site safe and ready for the Narborough School visit tomorrow.

The afternoon was spent updating the downloadable Spreadsheet of finds with the latest finds and also entering items from the early days. This is now complete and will be updated each week.   

 Interactive Plan          Volunteer         Previous      Next      Water Power

  • 01whaling
  • 03D100_6413crop
  • 04d100_6437crop
  • 05d100_6438crop
  • 06d100_6444crop
  • 07d100_6447crop
  • 08d100_6423crop
  • 08d100_6431crop
  • 09d100_6433crop
  • 10D100_6405crop
  • 11d100_6412crop
  • 12d100_6414crop
  • 13d100_6417crop
  • 14d100_6421crop
  • 15d100E6475crop
  • 16d100_6411crop
  • 17d100_6422crop
  • 18d100_6427crop
  • 19d100_6452crop
  • 20d100_6480crop
  • 21d100_6456crop
    Previous      Next    Water Power