Sacrewell Farm marks National Mills Weekend with guided tours of watermills
Guided tours will delve into the history of a Grade II* listed farm building.
Sacrewell Farm is marking National Mills Weekend on Saturday and Sunday (May 10 and 11) with guided tours of its mill.
The current watermill was built in 1755 but its history dates back even further to 1086, when a mill at the site was recorded in the Domesday Book.
The lie of the land also suggests the Romans may have used waterpower at Sacrewell hundreds of years earlier, perhaps even from the sacred well that gives Sacrewell its name. The current watermill was built in 1755 and remained a working mill until 1965, when lack of manpower stopped production.
National Mills Weekend is an annual celebration of the heritage and history of mills and the people who care for them today.
It has been organised by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and its Mills Section since 1982 and takes place each year on the second weekend of May.
Visitors to Sacrewell Farm will get the chance to have a guided tour of the historic mill with expert millwrights.
The tours are £2.50 per person, and have limited spaces, so pre-booking is recommended.
Melissa Gray, the charitable activities lead at The William Scott Abbott Trust, which has run Sacrewell Farm as a charity for more than 60 years, said: “Visitors often tell us they had no idea how much history Sacrewell holds, and National Mills Weekend is the perfect time to explore those hidden treasures.”