Bob's Mellor Mill Diary
Bob (Robert Humphrey-Taylor) is leading the excavations at Mellor Mill.
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Bob's Mill Diary - May 1, 2011
In April 2011, the Trust was awarded £15,000 from the Association for Industrial Archeology, which with £5,000 from the Trust will be used to uncover the Wellington wheelpit for public view. Bob tells the story of the wheelpit, the continuing excavations in front of the mill and the bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to open up the whole of Oldknow's industrial complex. The early entries are mostly taken from e-mails to John and Ann Hearle and later to Chris Walters as webmaster.
Wellington Wheel Pit in March 2011
Bob's Mill Diary - May 5, 2011 Bob e-mailed John Hearle
Hi John,
That is really good news. I'll speak with my man (excavator) next week after I return from a weekend on Jersey. We are away in France from 21st - 31st May so the earliest I can meet up will be Wednesday 1st June. Is it possible to change our site meeting until then?
kind regards,
Bob
Bob's Mill Diary - June 10, 2011
Photographs taken at the Mill on 10 June 2011:
Bob's Mill Diary - June 13, 2011
I put in a four hour session with the digger at the wheel pit today. I have managed to clear a lot of the debris from the slope leading to the tunnel entrance and evened out a safe pathway from near the road (good enough for wheelbarrows etc) to the entrance to the tunnel. It may be worth considering some hardcore/ gravel to help prevent the entrance slope becoming muddy in times of rain. There is a bit of bad news and that is that there has been another dumping of used tyres but this time they are all in the bottom of the pit so they will have to be cleared as well as the existing rubbish/ spoil.
I hope to be able to do a similar stint there tomorrow.
Bob's Mill Diary - June 17, 2011
T
his is the scene that greeted me today at the wheel pit. What had been maybe 100 tyres has now grown to about 300. I have hoisted about 20 out so far. They will need to be removed before the proper clearance of the pit can start on Monday. My thought is to make them into a barrier by stacking them and then chaining them together at the point where the dumpers are gaining access to the site. What do you think? In the meantime Bernard will report it to SMBC Environmental Health and so will I as Mellor Society.
Some further progress today on clearing the floor of the tunnel.