Gayle Mill, North Yorkshire facts for kids
Gayle Mill is a very old building in a small village called Gayle, in England. It was built around 1784. Many people believe it's the oldest cotton mill that still looks mostly the same as when it was first built! Gayle Mill is located in the beautiful Wensleydale area, about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the town of Hawes. It's also part of the amazing Yorkshire Dales National Park.
A group called the North of England Civic Trust (NECT) owns the mill. For a while, a local volunteer group, the Gayle Mill Trust, ran the mill. They paid a small rent to the owners. But in March 2018, the mill had to close. It needed big repairs to make sure it was safe for everyone.
The Mill's Early Days
This special building is known as a Grade II* listed mill. It was built by two local landowners, Oswald and Thomas Routh. They used the power of water to run the mill. A huge waterwheel, about 22 feet (6.7 meters) across, helped power the machines.
At first, Gayle Mill was a cotton mill. But by 1813, it started spinning flax and wool instead. This was important for the local knitting industry. For a short time in the 1800s, people even lived in the mill!
Becoming a Sawmill
Around 1879, Gayle Mill changed again. It became a sawmill, where wood was cut. The old waterwheel was taken out. In its place, a special water turbine was installed. This turbine was built by a company called Williamsons in Kendal. It's thought to be the only working turbine of its kind left today!
When the sawmill was busy, the turbine created 10 horsepower (7.46 kW) of energy. This power ran many woodworking machines. These included a rack sawbench, a circular saw, a thicknesser (planer), and lathes. All these machines were connected by belts and pulleys to a main shaft.
In 1919, part of the mill was used to make electricity for the area. The turbines helped power a generator. Gayle Mill provided electricity for the village until 1948.
Saving and Reopening Gayle Mill
Gayle Mill stopped working as a sawmill in 1988, after more than 100 years. It looked like the mill might be turned into fancy apartments. But in 2004, the mill got national attention! It was featured on a BBC2 TV show called Restoration. It won the regional competition and was one of the top three places in the whole country.
Because of the TV show, work to restore the mill began in 2004. It took four years and more than £1 million to fix up the site and make it ready to open again. Money for the repairs came from groups like the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage.
Gayle Mill officially reopened to the public in 2008. The host of the Restoration show, Griff Rhys Jones, even came back in 2009 to film an update on the restoration work. In 2012, Gayle Mill was also shown on Channel 4's How Britain Worked, presented by Guy Martin.
The mill used to offer tours and training courses. Visitors could see the restored machines and turbines working, thanks to the Gayle Mill Trust volunteers.
Recent Challenges
In early 2018, the North of England Civic Trust told the Gayle Mill Trust that the mill needed to close for more repairs. Some of these problems were from the earlier restoration work. The repairs were needed to make sure the mill was safe and followed insurance rules. The mill closed on March 31, 2018.
The Gayle Mill Trust hoped the work would be finished so they could reopen by Easter 2019. The North of England Civic Trust told the news that they definitely planned to repair the mill. They wanted to stop rumors that the building might be used for something else. In the summer of 2018, they started raising money for the repairs. Even though the mill was closed, the part of the business that worked with timber and woodworking continued to operate from another location, using wood that had already been processed.
