weir

After a day and half at the sewing machine, I need to stretch my legs and walked down to an area where there used to be a village but where there are only a very few mill-workers cottages left. It's known as Havannah, after the battle of Cuba. Over centuries there have been mills in the little valley, using power from the River Dane. I believe that copper wire was once made down there but it became part of the textile industry until the mills failed, when the workers moved out and the village was deserted. The Marsuma cigarette company moved in in the late 1800s and were able to call their cigars Havannah cigars. They subsequently moved their production into the town centre and are not in the area any more. The most recent factory has closed and there are now moves to build houses and a care home - it would be good to see the village coming back to life and the dereliction dealt with.
It's a shame that the owners of the land beside the river do not allow the public to walk up the river, because it has such historic connections and is very pretty.