Watermill Blog -  Behind Bars
28th February 2008

Richard was caught behind bars in this picture. John had refitted the repaired barred window and it was time to see if the matching screen would fit.

Happily the screen did fit, which was just as well as it has taken Richard three working days to make it.

The rest of the team today consisted of Colin, Headley, Max, Jonathan and Dick and they all found plenty of work to do.

Dick made more progress with re-assembling the chaff cutter which is beginning to take shape in the corner of the stable. Once it is complete we are hoping to power it from the waterwheel via the PTO shaft.

Jonathan is bringing that hope a little nearer with his brickwork in the pit under the hayloft steps.

Once this brickwork is sound we will be able to replace the big pulley and its shaft and make the necessary repairs to the bearings.

Jonathan seems to have taken to bricklaying and has made a great job of this bit. John is grateful because he doesn't likie working in confined spaces and wasn't looking forward to this particular repair job.

With no immediate need for any metalwork Headley took on the task of constructing the frame for the small ground floor window. He had assisted Kim with this on Tuesday and approached the job with some trepidation as he is not used to working with wood.

He completed two corner joints by the end of the day and seemed quite pleased with that progress. As these are fairly massive joints to make the rest of the team were suitably impressed.

Colin and Max spent all day inside the top floor of the mill examining the windlass for the sack hoist and refixing the hessian roof lining.

We are not sure when the roof was lined as this is an unusual feature for a watermill and may have been added when the building was used as a pheasnt hatchery.

The lining material appears to be hop sacks, pinned to the roof timbers. Most of the sacks are in quite good condition and just needed refixing in a few places but we will have to replace one or two that have fallen apart. Luckily there are still a few hop growers in the area and we have managed to beg a few sacks to use.

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