Miller helps save watermill for the second time

15 hours ago

Joanna Taylorin Hinxton

News image — Martin Fordham, 85, was born in a farmhouse near Hinxton watermill, where he would later become a miller

JOANNA TAYLOR/BBC Martin Fordham looking at the camera. He is wearing a beige knitted jumper, tinted glasses and a beige flat cap. Behind him are trees and bushes, out of focus. — Martin Fordham, 85, was born in a farmhouse near Hinxton watermill, where he would later become a miller

An 85-year-old miller said it was "very important" to save the watermill he has volunteered at for 40 years after it was threatened with closure for a second time.

Martin Fordham recently helped raise £20,000 towards essential repairs at Hinxton Watermill in Cambridgeshire, enabling visitors to continue watching the 17th Century mill in action.

It came after he successfully campaigned to stop the mill from being demolished in the 1980s, after it fell into disrepair.

The Cambridge Past, Present and Future Society (CPPF) bought the mill in 1984, after it ceased operations in 1955, and turned it into a working museum.

The charity spearheaded recent fundraising efforts, which meant erosion to the brickwork around the mill's partially submerged turbine could be repaired.

A bridge over an adjacent mill pond will also be fixed. Without these works, the mill could not continue opening safely to the public, the charity said.

Susan Elliott, a CPPF volunteer who lives in the mill house attached to the building, said the response to the charity's fundraising appeal was "absolutely incredible".

JOANNA TAYLOR/BBC Susan Elliott looking at the camera. Behind her is the interior of her cottage including a fireplace and mantlepiece, which is out of focus. — Susan Elliott volunteers at the mill and has lived in the attached cottage for about 25 years

Donations rolled in from villagers and visitors, she said, while money was also raised through tea and coffee mornings at the mill and by a local pub.

Fordham demonstrated the mill in action for visitors while his wife, Joyce, prepared refreshments, she added.

"If anyone wants a good reason [to save the mill], you only have to look at the children's faces when it suddenly clicks that there's no switch; there's no computer," Elliott said.

"There's no game that's better than watching the river doing all the work."

JOANNA TAYLOR/BBC The exterior of the watermill. It is a large building made from white wooden panels, with a brown brick roof. — The mill is one of the last working watermill on the River Cam

Fordham said the mill is frequently visited by young families and elderly people, but engaging people "in the middle", such as young professionals and early retirees, was a challenge.

He hoped to recruit a new miller to run the machinery after he stopped being able to operate the river's sluice gates himself last year.

JOANNA TAYLOR/BBC Circular stone submerged by water with a a rod attached on top and brick walls on three sides. — A turbine powers the mill rather than a traditional waterwheel

The mill fell into disuse for about 25 years before plans emerged to pull it down in the late 1970s.

Fordham said he helped negotiate the mill's sale to the Cambridge Preservation Society, which later became CPPF.

Visitors can still watch flour being produced at the museum, but cannot eat it for health and safety reasons. It is instead used in cattle licks.

JOANNA TAYLOR/BBC A square pallet of grain stands on top of a circular stone counter. There is a toy mouse next to it. In the distance, a round millstone is standing against a white brick wall. — Grain is produced at the mill, but it is not safe for human consumption

Elliott said the mill helps young people understand how renewable energy works.

"Water, wind and other forms of power are becoming much more important to the up-and-coming generations, and that is probably the most important reason for keeping it open," she said.

She added that a CPPF study suggested that enough water runs through the mill's main sluice gate to power five houses for a full year, but that "huge investment" would be needed to offer this to the National Grid.

The turbine powering the mill was pioneering technology in the early 1900s.

It replaced the traditional waterwheel, which was destroyed in the 19th Century.

The mill is open to the public to visit on Sundays between May and October.

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