Blue Flower

THURSDAY 24/3/16
There was activity at the mill, in the workshop and at the wagon today. The human skull bone found at the mill had been returned from radio carbon dating and a skull fragment from a woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros were supplied from the Heritage Centre to go for isotope analysis with it, so these were photographed before being sent to Durham University.

7 volunteers were working today. In the workshop a swing bridge was made to span the river for use on open days. This will allow people to cross from the footpath. Its made from a wheel hub with a plate fixed to it to allow rotation, and a length of scaffold staging similar to a ladder with wooden boards for the floor. It will have a counterweight so it can tilt upwards and swing round, and a removable hinge pin to allow complete removal when not needed. Handrails will be made to slot in when in use.

As we were all spread out in various locations we thought it would be a good time to test the set of four radios that Graeme supplied recently, and these were used to keep in touch with each other until we realised they needed charging.

Four of us went to the mill and one team cleared the downstream return wall of soil ready for brickwork repairs to be carried out. Finds from the last few visits were recorded and stored in one of the new plastic containers, labelled with dates and serial numbers for easy retrieval.

A selection of old finds were sorted out for display in the wagon. We also found a rib bone to send with the skull for analysis which we hope can be identified to which animal it came from.

Dennis and John went on a Norfolk Industrial Heritage course recently, and when they joined us at the mill they showed us a picture from the course notes of Appleton engine house chimney. They enlarged this picture and were able to count the bricks and found our ‘furnace’ is the same size, so this suggests it was a chimney for a steam engine, which explains the black soot marks inside it.

Back at the wagon a bookshelf was fitted in one corner, as books about the River Nar and associated topics will be in the wagon when it is in use as a visitor centre and volunteer room. A coat hook was also fitted to the wall, the gas cooker was installed and wooden boards were made for the outside sign holders at each end, these were used to identify the load being transported. The wagon will be taken to the mill soon.

Graham Bartlett     Interactive Plan            Volunteer       Previous        Next   

  • 010rs
  • 040rs
  • 042rs
  • 050rs
  • 060rs
  • 070rs
  • 080rs
  • 085rs
  • 090rs
  • 100rs
  • 105rs
  • 110rs
  • 120rs
  • 145rs
  • 150rs
  • 160rs
  • 170rs
  • 172rs
  • 175rs
  • 180rs
  • 185rs
  • 200rs
  • 205rs
  • 232rs
  • 240rs
  • 245rs
  • 249rs
  • 250rs
  • 260rs
  • 265rs
  • 270rs
  • 280rs
   Previous        Next