St. Mary's Mill water wheel

The intermittent rain which had been present since we woke up seemed to halt just as I was setting off for the Stroudwater Textile Trust Family day.  It was being held at the St Mary's Mill, near Chalford which straddles the river Frome about three miles up the Golden Valley from Stroud town.

The trust is run by Ian Mackintosh, a renowned local historian and fount of knowledge about textile history, who is married to Ann who is my fellow trustee of Stroud Preservation Trust (although as a founder member she has been a trustee for thirty years).

Ian regularly runs tours of several mills in Stroud's Five Valleys and St. Mary's Mill is one which is less often accessible to the public.  It is set in a narrow part of the Golden Valley, adjacent to both the canal and the main railway, and is steadily being renovated. I previously blipped an adjacent building here, which is in far worse condition, and if you look at that blip you can read a bit about its history.

Ian took us visitors around the mill and explained how this amazing huge water wheel worked. It finally ceased turning in 1946.  Other forms of power had also been used at the same time to drive the pistons and huge wheels, some of which were actually still turning today, although powered by electricity today for demonstration purposes.

Other local people attended with their stalls including Alvis, a local shop keeper in Stroud town centre, who also has a business producing wool from her own flock of sheep.  Today she was spinning her wool and while she did so she told me interesting stories of growing up in a cottages at this site in the 1950s. Her mother was the railway signalwoman on the level crossing at the entrance to the mill yard. I have added a picture of Alvis beside an assortment of her fleeces from Cotswold breed sheep whilst using her spinning wheel.  In the background is a sheep pen with one of her ewes and its two week old lamb.