PHASE 1       PHASE 2        PHASE 3

by Linda Butters

Phase 1

Alec Dinsdale, Chairman of Gayle Mill Trust, welcomed the Rt. Hon. William Hague and his wife Ffion to Gayle Mill, on Saturday February 26th 2005, to mark the occasion of the completion of the First Phase of the restoration project. This included re-roofing and stabilization of the walls. This work was carried out by Historic Property Restorations Ltd. Mr Dinsdale also thanked all the funding organizations who had enabled the project to reach this stage.

William Hague in his reply, said how pleased he was to be present and be part of a project, community led, which would bring much benefit to the Upper Dales area for generations to come, as indeed, the Mill has done for the past 230 years. The first century as a spinning mill and then as a sawmill since the 1870’s providing employment for many local people. As a member of the Friends of Gayle Mill, he was taking a close personal interest and looked forward to returning on completion of the restoration.

On behalf of the North of England Civic Trust, the Director Graham Bell, thanked everyone for their presence and for their dedicated support of many years, as he said, “these projects don’t happen overnight”!

Mr and Mrs Hague were then shown around the mill by former mill workers Tony Routh and Brian Alderson, who explained the various woodworking machines and turbines, and also told of their experiences of working at the mill and the unique atmosphere of the building, which they hope can also be restored!!

The Managing Director of Gilkes, Nick Pike, was also present to explain his company’s involvement in the restoration of the turbines and waterpower system.

Phase 2

The Second Phase of the restoration project was delayed for several weeks owing to severe weather conditions in the spring of 2005. Eventually work got under way, this included all the internal building works, external pointing, and conversion of the outbuildings to form offices, kitchen, toilets etc. The drying shed has been repaired and re-roofed and now houses the biomass boiler and associated equipment. Scheduled to be completed shortly, this work has been carried out by P & S Coverdale (Masonry) Ltd of Co. Durham, specialists in historic building restorations.

Phase 3

The restoration of the waterpower system, the Third Phase, is now well underway. The specialized engineering work is being carried out by Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd of Kendal in Cumbria. The wooden section of the leat has been completely rebuilt along with the stone built header tank, this being done in conjunction with the second phase works. Work on the weir, under Gayle bridge, is due to be carried out within the next few weeks. All the waterpower system, including turbines and historic machinery will then be tested and commissioned under the personal supervision of Nike Pike.

As Graham Bell said, “these projects don’t happen overnight” but much has happened at Gayle Mill in the past 18 months, and we all look forward to completion of all three phases in the near future. Also, perhaps, to a return visit of William Hague as promised!