Wessex Mills Group home page

Welcome

Welcome to the home page of the Wessex Mills Group. The Group was formed in 2003 as a centre for the milling heritage of Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire. We meet regularly, often in one of our local mills, and we welcome new members and their guests. For membership and other information please find out more about us.

Next meeting

Our next meeting will be the 2012 AGM, at Mudford village hall on Saturday 18th February. For more information see our Programme page.

Mill of the month

This month's featured mill is Castleton Waterwheel Museum, in Sherborne in Dorset.

The Museum is run by a local group of volunteers who over the past 25 years have rescued the waterwheel and its house from serious neglect. The wheel, 26 feet in diameter with steel rims, 72 steel buckets, and a cast-iron rim gear, is unique in having three leats providing water in high breast-shot array. It also has a system of ventilated buckets invented by William Fairbairn in the early part of the 19th century. It was installed to provide clean water for the inhabitants of Sherborne in 1869 and ran until 1959.

When rescue work began there had already been substantial damage to the wheel through immersion in water and debris. The wheel was so seriously corroded that it has had to be rebuilt, at a cost of £60,000. It is now restored to full working order.

The Museum houses an extensive collection of Victorian engineering. Visitors can see the waterwheel driving a twin cylinder pump set built in 1883 by Sparrow's of Martock for a local tannery. There is also a Hindley steam engine like that originally installed to supplement the water supply provided by the waterwheel. These main exhibits are supported by a wide-ranging display of artifacts mainly concerned with water pumping. Also on display are the very substantial remains of the Nether Cerne Manor waterwheel, built by Maggs of Bourton in 1819 and certainly one of the oldest all-iron waterwheels that remain in England. Supporting this display of machinery is a comprehensive display of technical and historical documentation.