North East Mills

Our guest speaker for our May meeting was Mr Duncan Hutt of the North East Mills Group – a group of enthusiasts concerned with anything relating to any type of mill situated in their area i.e. North Yorkshire to the Border. There are similar groups in other parts of the country, including the North West.

Mills were much more widespread and used than perhaps many realise. Indeed, whilst they were not a new concept, they played a crucial and vital role in the industrial development of the country. More power than was hitherto available was needed to provide the increased power required to drive newly developed industrial processes and machinery. Without a cheap and efficient power source industrial development would have been seriously restricted. The specific details of the talk concentrated on the Eastern side of the country but there are very close parallels in the west. South Cumbria embraced industrialisation rather more than did the east of the Pennines and there was a large number of mills in the area making paper, snuff and bobbins in addition to the more usual applications.

The prime power source for mills was water, which is widely distributed throughout the north. However the supply had to be consistent and not subject to drying up. For that reason tidal water was not suitable and mills were therefore usually located on the banks of freshwater watercourses. Water was not the only source of power and it may not be generally realised that windmills were also reasonably prolific in the region – there is certainly plenty of wind for much of the time. These windmills were used as a main power source or, quite frequently, as back-up in the event of the water supply failing or falling beneath a viable effective level. The main types of water wheel were described and illustrated i.e. overshot and undershot, although there are other variations including horizontal (as at Scremerston in north Northumberland) and turbines.

Various sites and uses were identified including:-

• Gunpowder and woollen mills here in Alston
• Underground water pumps at Allenheads
• A paper mill used to produce counterfeit French currency during the Napoleonic war
• Lead smelting throughout the North
• One of the best preserved mills with a number of unique features is in the grounds of a family home at The Linnels in Hexhamshire
• Millstones were cut from quarries in the Pennines and a number of sites can still be seen
• Numerous windmills in the Newcastle and Gateshead urban area

In the area covered by the NEMG there are approximately 800 known sites of mills and they are soon to be listed in a gazetteer designed to solicit further data, corrections or other input from anyone who has any information. Whilst many mills have been destroyed or become dilapidated, they have proved to be very suitable for conversion into living accommodation. The Group try to record ‘before and after’ details of such conversions and are very happy to give advice to those who wish the conversion to reflect the original use. The Group is very anxious to collect as much data as possible on mill sites, especially those that have long since disappeared.

FUTURE EVENTS

 The next meeting will be a behind the scenes insight into the contents and workings of the Archives at Penrith Museum and will be held in the Masonic Hall, Alston at 7.30 pm on the 2 nd June.

The official relocation ceremony of the Walton Memorial will be held at Townfoot, Alston on Tuesday the 7 th July. Further details will be available soon.

A visit to Dilston Hall has been arranged for Wednesday, the 7 th July. This will include a guided tour with access to parts of the site not open to the public, including the Radcliffe Crypt. Anyone wishing to join us for this visit is welcome and should contact Richard Turner on 01434 381353 for further information.