Another Award for Swannington Heritage Trust

At the recent ceremony organized by the Leicestershire County CouncilÕs Museum Forum, the Trust won the 2005 Award for Best Restoration Project. This involved the complete refurbishment of a wire machine obtained from the demolished Belton Watermill. We were told of a large timber chest, standing at the roadside close to the watermill which was found to contain interesting milling artifacts, which were contemporary with Hough Mill in its heyday. Though in superficially poor condition this wire machine was a very important find for us. Wholemeal flour, direct from the stone, is nutritious, wholesome and tasty. For many purposes some change in the proportions of the major constituent parts is usually demanded, requiring the use of a flour dresser and the most versatile and perhaps the most common kind is a wire machine. Eight brushes, each some four feet long, rotate rapidly within an inclined wire mesh lined cylindrical framework of ribs sieving the flour as it passes down. By varying the grades of mesh employed, the qualities of the flour can be adjusted to meet the required specification. In our case just two gauzes have been used, the first, at the top, would sieve out the fine white flour, a coarser grade would separate out the offals while the bran would fall from the bottom, open end, of the cylinder. These fractions would pass down chutes to be bagged on the floor below. Dimensions and layout were recorded and photographed to enable us to restore the machine, as it would have been when new. The wooden case was so

badly infested with worm and rot that it was necessary to make a new one, using good second hand timber. The hardwood cylinder was cleaned, repaired where necessary, treated with a modern timber hardening system and lined with two grades of stainless steel gauze. The metal work was grit blasted, welded where broken and painted. The brushes were replaced. The photographs demonstrate the machine before and after restoration. The refurbished machine is now displayed on the dresser floor of the mill. Specially placed lighting, together with transparent panels in two doors and an access hatch have been installed for the benefit of visitors and the cylinder has been left open so that its operation can be more easily understood. Our team of volunteers carried out all the work involved. We dedicated to this project the £500 won by us last year with the National Dorothea Award of the British Council for Industrial Archaeology for our project of Restoration of the Hough Windmill. The Trust welcomes new members of all ages, who share our aims to protect, preserve, enhance and care for our most valuable Heritage. You could join our volunteers in continuing to develop and maintain our award winning sites or in improving the ecology of them. Perhaps you might like to become a Trust guide either to take visitors around the Village Trail or to introduce visitors on Sunday afternoons to the workings of Hough Windmill. Full information and training will be given. Your contribution however great or small will be welcomed. Contact Ð Denis Baker, 01530 222330 See our website Ðwww.swannington-heritage.co.uk.

BACK TO TOP | HOMEPAGE