The National Monuments Record’s archives catalogues, with some images, describing over a million photographs and other archives, are now online at http://www.englishheritagearchives.org.uk. This is a useful step forward and they say “We’d welcome feedback, so please use (and encourage your searchers to use) the site feedback link to let us know how we can improve it!”…
Author: Ron Cookson
Free! Large number of Newcomen Transactions
The Mills Archive Library has about 50 volumes of the Newcomen Transactions dating from the 1940s. They are available free of charge to the first comer. The volumes contain an amazing amount of mill-related material – just think; all those articles by Rex Wailes for a start! No catches – apart from the fact they…
Irish Photographs
The National Library of Ireland has recently released 34,000 of its 630,000 original Irish photographs on its website. They are available free to view as low resolution images, with the opportunity to order higher resolution images for a fee.The photographs, which relate to 1860-1954, include a large number of churches and other religious subjects.See: http://digital.nli.ie/cdm4/index_glassplates.php?CISOROOT=/glassplates Searching…
Frank W. Gregory Collection
Frank W. Gregory’s collection of mill-related archival material has been catalogued as part of a collaborative project, hosted by the Mills Archive in partnership with the Weald & Downland Museum, and made possible thanks to a grant of £49,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Filming at Shipley in 1994. In his Miller’s Smock, Frank is photographed at…
Knockando Watermill survives
William Hill’s recent list of Internet links to mill news includes an uplifiting article in Saga Magazine. In 2004 the mill lost out in the BBC’s Restoration programme. Five years on, the Trust has finally raised enough to start restoration. Its aim, says chairman Jana Hutt, is to repair the leaking buildings and set it…
Threat to Mill Groups
Mill Groups and other small organisations will not be able to receive donations by cheque from 2018. The Payments Council (a body run by the banks) has announced that banks will stop clearing cheques by 2018. This has major implications for older people, small businesses and charities. The argument is that payment by cheque is…
Putting Old Watermills Back to Work
GM Bartlett’s letter in today’s Sunday Telegraph bemoans the emphasis on wind turbines in Wales when there are so many watermill sites available. The editors have added a catching but irrelevant image of Lady Isabella, so I have borrowed one from the Mills Archive! Bartlett’s point is that the powers that be are ignoring water…
2012 Olympics and Heritage
Could Mills benefit from this latest HLF announcement? If you have a project in mind that could have an Olympic connection it is worth reading on! There is now a feature section on the HLF website relating to the Olympics, giving ideas of how projects might fit with the Cultural Olympiad and frequently asked questions…
Wind turbine blade snaps off UPDATE
Simon Potter and Tim Chapman have helped me update the news item that originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday 10 October, reporting that strong winds had broken a blade of a 190 ft wind turbine at Catcliffe near Sheffield. The photograph is copyright Tim Chapman – see http://www.flickr.com/photos/2ubh/2602836715/ a second one can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/2ubh/2603666372/…
Millwrights’ Memories
I was just entering details of this book on our Internet shop, when I came across the chapter “Millwrights’ Memories”. Can someone point me in the direction of other similar sources? The chapter transcribes in some detail interviews recorded between 1969 and 1980. Thirty eight pages are devoted to the reminiscences of: Alf SpainPhilip HancockGordon…