This blog post shows you what your flour purchases will help fund over the coming weeks as we embark on repairs costing over £6,000.00!
2024 is going to be an expensive year. Owning a Grade 2* listed building, as some of you will know is both a blessing and a curse – huge enjoyment, but the responsibility of maintainance and upkeep of the historic building fabric.
The hideous weather of the last winter has taken its toll and this year, we are faced with significant costs repairing the brickwork of the mill tower, in particular the North face. The mill is constructed of soft Cambridegshire bricks – yellow bricks which are then coated in coal tar, the traditional way to keep the rainwater out. This works well on the sides of the mill which get sunlight – what water does get through cracks in the tar evaporates out as the wall surface heats in the sunlight. Sadly, the sun does not reach the North face of the mill and consequently, water gets trapped. With last winter’s extremely wet weather, we have had the double whammy of soaking wet brickwork and then frost heave on those cold winter nights (yes, we had enough to cause major damage….).
You can see this with my explanation on our Facebook feed:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/942736880624897
The video above shows the result – bricks which have disintegrated or been badly damaged as the fronts of the bricks break away due to frost heave. All of this has to be repaired. So far, our brick / lime mortar specialist has replaced 30 bricks as he has rebuilt sections of the tower wall before repointing it. This is done with lime mortar, so that the tower can breathe and absorb the movement which occurs as the mill works – turning into wind and the sails rotating.
Once the new lime mortar is dry, the tower will be re-coated in tar in the traditional way as this still offers the best waterproofing.
In addition to this, we will also re-coat the mill cap in fibreglass this year and carry out a range of other maintenance tasks. The bill will be in excess of £6,000.00, so your help by purchasing our flour is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for any help you provide by buying our flour.
