Day 3 – Big Bagnor Household

9 January 2015

Today we handed the theatre over to the main contractors so work is really stepping up a pace. The day started with the ceilings in the top floor dressing rooms being removed which, other than continuing the look of a crime scene with everyone now in disposable boiler suits and masks, is uncovering the history of the workings of the mill, many of which have been covered for decades.

The highlight being the highest pulley block in the building – which I presume was originally used to take the corn to the top of the building prior to the grain working down through the mill stones. At a rough guess, (based upon a past visit to the working mill at Winchester), this is probably situated above the square trap in the stalls ceiling, normally where the mirror ball sits.

The end of the day finished with us removing the glass from in front of the wheel. The sound and power of the water running through the mill when not behind the triple glassing is awesome – we are looking at re-sighting the glass to enable us an opportunity to get some good lighting on the wheel so we can all get a better view of it in the future. It also gave the chance for a Hydro designer to get some good measurements (shush don’t tell anyone – but fingers crossed for the future).

Meanwhile, in the car park the bore hole team are having a torrid time – the water table has just risen so no longer are we looking like a Time Team dig – now more a scale version of Venice.

Lawrence T Doyle
Production Manager