The Millers' Tales
Conversation with the millwrights
How did you get started in this line of work? Where did the interest come from?
Steve: I started about two and a half or three years ago as millwright trainee working for Historic England in partnership with Hamish Ogston. The 12 month contract involved working at a number of mills including Gayle Mill, Warwick Bridge and the Heron Mill. Then the Near Far Heron project came along and I stayed on. There’s plenty to do over the next two or three years!
Before all that, and after uni, I did an apprenticeship in farriery and spent 13 years shoeing horses. Then came some teaching of farriery at Myerscough College, part time at first and then full time. And then Covid happened. The blacksmithing skills I learned as part of being a farrier helped secure the millwrighting traineeship.
But I’ve always been interested particularly with industrial heritage, because wherever you walk in Stockport, where I grew up, down by the canals and rivers there’s plenty of mill footings, old turbines and mill races and so on.
And Stuart, you were a mechanic in a previous existence, weren’t you?
Stuart: Being a mechanic was an easy choice, really because as long as I can remember, I’ve always been looking for a screwdriver to take things apart to see what’s inside them, what makes them work, and how. I wouldn’t say I put everything back together! You learn a lot from being endlessly curious and asking questions. Living in a small village, the most modern thing was the coal mine, so other than farm land, that was about it for technology.
My Dad was a joiner so I helped out in his workshop, hands on. I worked on my first building site aged 7! So I saw things being constructed, using tools, and having the pleasure of seeing things come from basic materials into something useful.
And then the mill has everything you might have grown up around, all in one place! Wood and metal, machinery, a historic building with its own specific problems and requirements.
While the building trade itself did not appeal, seeing proper things being done by multiple trades people, even if you can’t do it yourself, understanding what goes into it is invaluable. There are things you can’t learn from a textbook.
Steve: Yes, theory and practice are often different! You need to have an idea how to do things, but you also need “hands on” to appreciate what works, what you can do and what those around you can do too.
Stuart: Older buildings need more regular maintenance than modern ones, and different values apply. If something needs replacing every 10 years, that’s just the way it is - things don’t last for ever.
Steve: White masonry paint may last longer than traditional lime wash, but you need to consider the health of the wall behind it. Traditional ways became traditional for a reason.
You’ve no written records of how or why jobs in the past were done the way they were…
Stuart: We’re having to work out how precise we need to be. Some things weren’t done very precisely last time, but they have worked. It’s about finding where is the line between precision and experience.
Steve: Having no records is a major obstacle in learning about millwrighting but a lot of people (even mill owners and enthusiasts) don’t know what a millwright is, which means they won’t think to employ one to repair the mill. Mills appear to be simple machines with simple construction that leads to people doing repairs when really they don’t know what they're doing.
This is where the Near Far Heron project comes in: finding out what works by doing it, solving problems and passing on that experience. For example the arms on the waterwheel, were all cut and shaped individually to fit their own sockets. If you didn’t stand back and think about it, with a modern day mindset you might just cut them all the same, but they’re all slightly different, so there’s going to be a bit of play and wiggle, and the job’s not going to last as long. You literally can’t take a one size fits all approach.
Stuart: You need to think about a problem, find an approach that seems to be appropriate, and continue doing that until experience tells you something different.
Puzzling over a problem and finding a solution is a very satisfying part of the job. Seeing your work actually up and running, is good too, like when Beckside Mill’s wheel turned for the first time in ages. And then when other people stop and look to appreciate what you have made work, that’s the best.
Of course there is always the possibility that things will go wrong one day - you are constantly listening and watching, worrying too! Whenever I talk to Kate from Eskdale Mill, I ask after the jog scry [oscillating sieve] that we repaired 18 months ago.
The challenge is to get everybody - volunteers, visitors, mill staff - to take a step back and look at the big picture of “heritage” generally. It’s not about finding better ways to do things in the future, but understanding the way things were done in the past and why. You also need a balance between volunteers and experienced people. You may need to bring in other people to do the things you can’t do yourself, but you need to have a clear idea of how you want them to do things for you. You need a common approach, doing things the way that has been found to work, not trying to put your own mark on things. Introducing a modern material or technique may or may not improve something, but it will inevitably lose an old skill along the way. Sometimes a millwright is asked to do a job according to modern standards - avoiding tar or lead based paint for instance. This is a dilemma! Should you stick to the traditional way of working, or accept that some things just need to change?
Steve: Yes, the Near Far Heron project is about the need to raise awareness of traditional methods with people who work in mills. You may have your own ideas about how to do things, but the traditional way is not something to be scared of. These mills are still here because something worked and was just right. Accumulating and sharing that knowledge is important, and not deviating from it is also important.
Stuart: An electric motor may drive a mill stone quicker than a waterwheel does, but that doesn’t mean it makes better flour. It just makes flour more efficiently. When people see the effort that goes into milling at the Heron, they do appreciate it - and it does encourage them to try the flour for themselves!
As the Near Far Heron project progresses, we need to gather experience ourselves, putting it into practice so we have something proven. Then we need to encourage people looking after mills in the region to see that this is the approach and this is why, and we’ve got the experience to back it up!
Getting the message across to the public is important too. We need to keep an open mind about what we’re doing, how we do things, and why - especially if people ask questions. Asking questions about the mill is the beginning of people engaging with heritage.
Looking ahead…
Steve: I hope to continue to work in mills, certainly industrial heritage. My main focus is to gain skills to maintain mills in a traditional manner without impacting their historic fabric and sharing this with others. Millwrighting may not be a full time job as most mills are strapped for cash but I see work could be done through community funded projects, maybe involving volunteers and members of the public.
Stuart: I think it would be hard to make a living out of just mill repairs and maintenance: you need to have other activities alongside to make best use of your time, and of resources like your workshop if you have one. [Stuart has his bat cave near the fish pass!] But keeping working with other mills is vital.
What would you say to a youngster interested in heritage?
Steve: This idea of being a “Jack of all trades” - you tend to be looked down on just because you’re not a fully accomplished joiner, say. But in fact that’s what millwrighting is - it’s lots of skilled things under the same umbrella.
Stuart: Yes, “Jack of all trade, master of none”. But in fact why can’t you be master of three or four things? Because you’ve got that experience behind you as well.