When the Trust decided on a major restoration project and change in the presentation of the mill, to follow Dave King’s retirement early this year, we anticipated remaining closed for the 2016 and 2017 visitor seasons, whilst funding was secured, work was carried out and plans for future operation were put in place.  That would…

 By the end of October last year, the waterwheel, gearbox and motor-generator had all been installed on the structural steelwork previously bolted to the granite bedrock by the designers and constructors, Smith Engineering of Maryport.

We have taken up the generous offer of the Worthington family to provide timber from their woodland at nearby Dalegarth…

Earlier this autumn, Dave King showed his last visitors around the mill as resident miller/custodian, the position which he has held since 1992.  Originally from the East Midlands, Dave worked as a miner, draughtsman and engineer before being selected (from over 300 applicants) by Cumbria County Council to succeed Thom Staites as custodian at Boot.

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Our round-1 application to the Heritage Lottery Fund was submitted in August.  If we are successful in November, a nine month development period will lead to a full round-2 bid in August 2016.  We will appoint project managers to write the bid, and assist with the appointment of consultants for business and activity plans, and…

Thanks to the generosity of Marcus Worthington, and of all those members who responded to the appeal in the last Newsletter, and to the patient fund-raising skills of Peter van Zeller, we have secured sufficient funding to order our waterwheel generator.  Because public funding would disqualify us from the benefits of Feed-in Tariff, all the…

Dalegarth Hall open day in aid of the Eskdale Mill Trust Earlier this year, Margie Foots agreed to succeed her mother, the late Anne Stanley, as a patron of the Trust. Margie generously responded to our hydro generator appeal, by offering to open her home and gardens at Dalegarth Hall. This was a rare opportunity…

After examining several options for the Mill’s operation and management after David King’s retirement in February 2016, last autumn the trustees accepted the recommendation of our consultants, Minerva Heritage Ltd, to open it to the public as often as possible, with demonstrations of the machinery by a new custodian. He or she will be an…

We are still working to secure the funding required to manufacture and install a new waterwheel, that will supply ‘green’ renewable electricity to the grid, and offer an added attraction to visitors coming to see the last working corn mill in the Lake District National Park.

The only outstanding regulatory requirement is the granting of…

Our efforts to put in place an electricity generating waterwheel are progressing steadily. We intend to position the new free-standing wheel so that it may be seen by people as they approach the Mill from the village and cross the packhorse bridge which spans the Whillan Beck. The Mill’s integral waterwheels are not visible from…

On Monday October 18th, I attended the re-launch of Pevner’s Architectural Guides (Cumbria), held at Holker Hall. All the great and the good were present ~ with the notable exception of Roger Putnam; Matthew Hyde, the author, Professor Simon Bradley, editor ~ who had forwarded the invitation to me, Sir Simon Jenkins, Guardian journalist and…