Blue Flower

March and April 2015

Work started when the site was mostly covered in grass and vegetation. The trench was dug out with a digger but as the first picture shows, the rest of the site was covered. The wheel had soil and rubble in the bottom, underneath and both sides, jamming it completely. The buckets were full of soil and weeds, and the gear hub on the axle end was partially buried. One of the first tasks was to remove all this to give the wheel a chance of turning so the new metal buckets could be fitted.

The upstream side of the wheel had soil up to about 1 metre high, and the pictures show the digger removing this to reveal the metal plate. Water would have flowed into the wheel over this plate, and a large gap was exposed below it where a thick piece of wood went across, remains of wood were found at each end. Also revealed was the brick floor in front of the wheel. The pictures also show the downstream side of the wheel full of soil which was dug out by hand.

The millstones were removed to the far side of the site to protect them and give more room for the digger to work, and for restoring the brick wall. They also make handy seats for our lunch breaks.

A major find on 30/4/15 was an elevator hopper complete with sprocket wheel and bearings in its own pit.

While all this was going on, the hammer mill (the mound on the left of the main trench in the first picture) had weeds and earth removed to reveal the brickwork structure we see today. Grass snakes were found here at one point so work was stopped in this area to avoid disturbing them.   

Interactive Plan       Next      EDP Article 26/01/15

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