St. Mary's Mill viewed from London Road

I met Robyn at her home in Nailsworth and we drive over Minchinhampton Common to St Mary's Mill, near Chalford and started filming by 2pm as planned. The Mill was open to the public as part of the Stroudwater Textile Trust's policy of showing visitors around the heritage sites of the Stroud Valleys which formed the industrial base of the area beginning in the 1300s.

We had offered to make a short film promoting the Trust's Open Days as a way for a small group of local filmmakers to start working together on new projects. this idea formed when Philip B. and I thought that Stroud Community TV could become more involved in creating films rather than just hosting the end products. Robyn and Katie met with Philip and I a few weeks ago offering their skills, time and shared equipment and today was our first day of production.

I had linked us with the Trust whom I knew would appreciate a short film to help their work, and Ian Mackintosh was our first interviewee on location inside the mill. If you are interested I blipped him on another Open Day here in 2016 and I created this Flickr gallery with a variety of shots of the equipment inside the old mill.

The site has had a working mill since medieval times, and the main building you can see in the background dates from the 1820s. It is all contained within the land of the clothier's house which is just out of view to the left of this scene. The level crossing gate opens when the signalman leaves his quite unique and rather lovely signalbox and manually lets you through. Beyond the railway line the track immediately crosses a small bridge over the dilapidated old lock on the now derelict Thames and Severn Canal. Just a few yards further on there is another bridge over the River Frome, which flows past the mill buildings whilst a leet carries water directly to the main mill building originally to power the water wheel inside, which you can see pictured in the Flickr gallery.

There is an ancient right of way on this track from one side of the main valley to the other, originally being an old route from Bisley three miles to the north to Minchinhampton and its common.