News

Five Civil Asset Management Apprentice Degree (CAMAD) students visited Eskdale Mill on 27 September. They have an interest in conservation building techniques and their employer – Sellafield nuclear site – is committed to engaging with and supporting the local community. They were shown around and learnt about the built environment, specific conservation works, and how…

Rosemary Lord joined us as an adviser in April this year, and has since been appointed as a trustee. Rose has qualifications in conservation and heritage management, and experience of project management, and has recently taken up a new post with the Lake District National Park Authority. Rose has kindly agreed to co-ordinate the Trust’s…

As part of this year’s Heritage Open Days programme, the mill opened on 6 September for visitors to view ongoing works to restore the mill buildings and machinery. Both tours were free but places were limited and had to be booked in advance. The architects, builders and millwrights were on hand to explain our plans…

We were running in February, and used the March-April dry spell to resolve the ‘drumming’. Altering the generating machinery had created this low frequency beating sound. By adding a triangle of metal sheet at the end of the launder, the same quantity of water drops but is now spread more thinly. The ‘drum beat’ is…

We worked hard to comply with HLF’s requirements since our award. It took longer than hoped, although the interim permission to start allowed Minerva Heritage to organise start-up meetings for three volunteer projects. Appointing the building contractors coincided with full HLF permission to start, at the end of June. Our project organisers, Shirley Muir Associates…

Three volunteer projects are ongoing whilst the mill is closed for refurbishment. Volunteer training for when the mill reopens is being developed. Another continuing vital role for volunteers outside the scope of HLF is keeping the hydro-electric wheel turning. Mary Ann Lancaster, of Heritage Associates, and Jenny Truran, Lancashire County Museums Service Conservation Officer, assisted…

Our Heritage Lottery Fund award will enable us to learn more of the mill’s past from archaeological work by professionals, and a local history study led by volunteers, as parts of the three-year project. The process began as our application developed, with a report on the working parts by Martin Watts, a national authority on…

By 5 February we had built a sufficiently well-structured enclosure around the relocated generating machinery to allow us to test its effectiveness in limiting the noise which was of some concern. At the time of writing, the generator has been running for 21 days and it is believed that the objective of reducing noise to…

The trustees have been working on plans for a Heritage Lottery funded restoration scheme since 2014. Having completed our development phase in February 2017, we hoped that HLF would decide on our delivery stage application – the big money – in June, but they deferred it for six months, requiring us to improve the documentation…

The Eskdale generator became accredited under the government’s Renewables Obligation scheme in July 2016, so is permitted to earn Feed-in Tariff payments for the electricity produced. In testing during a sustained period of medium water supply, all parts operated well and safety aspects were proved. However, in quiet conditions a particular frequency within the basic…