Shelsley Watermill - VIII

Well back up to strength today as you can see from the photo. Clockwise from the top left we had Martin, Max, John, Colin, John and yours truly. Guess what, we were shovelling mud again!

The wheel bearing plinth has now been filled with concrete and will be brick paved when everything has fully cured. The builders working on the farmyard lent us a cement mixer that saved us a lot of work, with about a cubic yard of concrete to be mixed and hauled down to the wheel pit. We are really getting good at this bucket chain lark.

We have also started to build back up in the tailrace. The retaining wall for the race on the side nearest the mill had almost completely disappeared so we have now created a foundation for a new wall. Again this needs to be left to set, so we set up another bucket chain (I said we were getting good) from inside the mill to clear yet more mud and rubble from around the machinery space.

One oddity that turned up was a small earthenware bottle, maybe a ¼ pint sized, clearly stamped CARLESS & HILES, VETY. SURGEONS, WORCESTER. When it is cleaned up I will try to photograph it and post a picture. We can only presume that it was tossed into the mill as a piece of rubbish.

Photography inside the mill is a bit tricky because of the lack of light but sometimes the sun is in just the right place. Somehow the old billycan seems to sum up what happened to this old mill, just left behind…