February News
ROSEMOOR RESTORATION REPORT by Tony Nicholls - 1st February 2023
With virtually a full turn out of volunteers this week we were able to make good progress with the ongoing restoration of the tucking mill.
With virtually a full turn out of volunteers this week we were able to make good progress with the ongoing restoration of the tucking mill.
Cobblestones re-laid
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Preparing to re-lay cobblestones
Re-pointed concrete floor
Some final finishing touches were made to the external wall of the lower chamber and the fragments of the concrete floor which we laid several weeks ago were pointed in. We have now turned our attention to repairing some of the damaged areas of the cobblestone floor – a job which sounds fairly straightforward but invariably is not. We are debating how far we should go with this work as the areas which require repair are extensive.
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The rest of the working party concentrated on re-building the retaining (south) wall of the mill race. This, as usual, involved a certain amount of conjecture as we are not sure exactly how the wall originally looked but we have made an ‘educated guess’. During the course of the morning we managed to lay several courses of stone and constructed an elegant curved return to connect the stonework to the wider part of the channel below. We have also been continuing to excavate the area of the tow path near the ‘smelting pit’ and were surprised to find further substantial stonework here. We are not sure what this represents but, given that it is more or less opposite what we think may be an old bridge pier on the eastern side of the canal, it is possible that it may be the foundations of the partner pier on the west side. Here, we unearthed another interesting bit of ironwork – badly rusted but it might possibly be an old hinge post. Another item for our collection of artefacts and another puzzle to be solved! (Footnote: It was good to see our old friend, Rolle Robin (or maybe son of), appear almost as soon as we arrived on site. He is quite content to hop around us as we work looking for freshly turned ground to attack for an early morning snack – a real character!). Working parties are held every Wednesday morning, meeting in the main car |
Re-building wall of mill race
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Repaired corner of mill race
Stone foundations near towpath
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Possible hinge post
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View of tucking mill from north
Rolle Robin
LET'S TWIST AGAIN - With apologies to Chubby Checker - Sea Lock report by Adrian Wills - 1st February 2023
It was a rather grey and damp start to Tuesday morning (31.01.23) when Steve, Nick, and Tony joined me at Sea Lock. The word ‘mizzling’ best describes the weather at that time.
While they decided on a plan of campaign, I started up the Priestman Cub and moved it to where I could park it without blocking access. I was anticipating a delivery of 10 bags of cement later in the day.
Nick and Tony began the arduous task of digging a trench across the middle of the loft floor in order to cast more concrete for the ring-beam. This proved particularly tiresome to shovel because of the loose infill that had to be removed. Rather scary, large voids in the ground where they were digging kept being discovered so it was little surprise that the building was slowly subsiding.
It was a rather grey and damp start to Tuesday morning (31.01.23) when Steve, Nick, and Tony joined me at Sea Lock. The word ‘mizzling’ best describes the weather at that time.
While they decided on a plan of campaign, I started up the Priestman Cub and moved it to where I could park it without blocking access. I was anticipating a delivery of 10 bags of cement later in the day.
Nick and Tony began the arduous task of digging a trench across the middle of the loft floor in order to cast more concrete for the ring-beam. This proved particularly tiresome to shovel because of the loose infill that had to be removed. Rather scary, large voids in the ground where they were digging kept being discovered so it was little surprise that the building was slowly subsiding.
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They were working under the shelter of the building. Steve, on the other hand, was exposed to the elements, working in the trench excavated last week, drilling concrete and bonding stubs of rebar in preparation of installing a welded rebar cage. Not being sure of whether the bonding agent would work in the wet, he first had to refer to the instruction leaflet (Whatever next?) which was not actually very helpful but didn’t imply dampness was a problem! 
He next ‘tip-toed through the tulips’ or at least in the spaces between the rebar webs of steel, tying things together.
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In the meantime, I ‘faffed about’; cutting lengths of rebar and wire, moving and emptying barrowful’s of excavated rubble, breaking large lumps of concrete, and spreading it across the surface of the yard.
By lunchtime, the fourth trench was completed and Steve had finished tying all the rebar connections. Concrete next! After lunch, the cement mixer was working hard whilst Steve and Nick mixed concrete and I filled the trench with it and tamped it down. Eventually we had mixed and laid sufficient concrete for that section so we cleaned our tools and wearily headed home. Although there are still another seven trenches needing to be excavated and filled with reinforced concrete before we can start the process of actually re-levelling the building, we are making very good and pleasing progress. 
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