Gayle Mill, dating from about 1784, is thought to be the oldest structurally unaltered

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven b ...

in existence. It is located in the

Wensleydale Wensleydale is the dale or upper valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines, one of the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of only a few Yorkshire Dales not currently named after its principal river, but th ...

hamlet of

Gayle Gayle or Gayl may refer to: People * Gayle (given name), people with the given name * Gayle (surname), people with the surname * Gayle (singer) (born 2004), American singer-songwriter Places * Gayle, North Yorkshire, England * Gayle, Jamaica, a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, south of the market town of

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a touri ...

. It lies within the

Yorkshire Dales National Park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England covering most of the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the park is in North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Westmorland (Cumbria) and a small part in Lancashire. The park was designa ...

. The mill is owned by Cultura Trust (formerly known as the North of England Civic Trust (NECT); it was operated by a local volunteer group which paid a modest rent to the owner until March 2018 when the property was closed to enable additional repairs to be undertaken to make it safe for visitors.

History

The Grade II* listed mill was built by local hosiers and land owners Oswald and Thomas Routh as a water-powered cotton mill, and was powered by a diameter overshot waterwheel. It was turned over to flax and wool spinning by 1813 for the local knitting industry. For a period in the 19th century, it was used for domestic accommodation. It was converted to a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

around 1879. The waterwheel was removed and replaced with a Thomson double-vortex

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...

, built by Williamsons (now Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd) of Kendal. This is thought to be the only remaining working variety of its type. In its heyday, the 10 hp (7.46 kW) created by the turbine drove a range of woodworking machinery – a rack sawbench, circular saw, thicknesser (planer), and lathes – by a series of belts and pulleys off a central

line shaft A line shaft is a power-driven rotating shaft for power transmission that was used extensively from the Industrial Revolution until the early 20th century. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors small enough to be connected directly to e ...

. In 1919, part of the mill was hired to provide electricity to the area using turbines for the generator. The mill provided electricity for the village until 1948. During the Second World War, soldiers from the Border Regiment and the Scots Guards were billeted in the top floor of the mill, and the millpond was used as a secret test location in the preparations for the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

Restoration and current status

Gayle Mill closed in 1988, after over a century of operation as a sawmill, and it seemed likely it would be converted into luxury flats. In 2004 its plight came to national attention when it featured in the second series of BBC2's ''

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

'' programme. It won the regional heat and came in the top three in the national finals. Restoration of the mill started in the same year and works to bring the site to operational standard took four years and cost over £1 million. Funding for the renovation came from several sources including the Heritage Lottery Fund,

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

and Yorkshire Forward. A Friends group was established from the local community and from that, with the assistance of the building owners (NECT) Gayle Mill Trust was formed. The Mill re-opened to the public in 2008, operated by Gayle Mill Trust. ''Restoration''s host

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...

returned to Gayle Mill in 2009 to film an update on the restoration work. In 2012 Gayle Mill was featured on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's ''How Britain Worked'', presented by

Guy Martin Guy Martin (born 4 November 1981) is a British former motorcycle racer and heavy vehicle mechanic who became a television presenter. In July 2017, Martin retired from motorcycle racing. Martin started racing in 1998 and in 2004 competed on a ...

. The mill was operated as a centre for woodworking experience, providing training in traditional skills, a visitor attraction and an example of energy sustainability within the Yorkshire Dales National Park until March 2018. In April 2018 the building closed to the public as further work was required to make the building safer and easier to operate. Fundraising began and in 2020 refurbishment work started. In 2021 the building work was completed and the building reopened to the public on a part time basis with a new dedicated website - www.gaylemill.org

References

External links

Gayle Mill website.

Friends of Gayle Mill (supporters' group)

English Heritage HELM programme case study of Gayle Mill

Profile
at the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

{{coord, 54.2999, -2.1995, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Cotton mills Cotton industry in England Museums in North Yorkshire Industry museums in England Mill museums in England Textile museums in the United Kingdom Watermills in North Yorkshire Grade II* listed watermills Grade II* listed buildings in North Yorkshire Grade II* listed industrial buildings Hawes

History

Restoration and current status

References

Further reading

External links