Take a guided your of Peterborough's historic Sacrewell Mill
Sacrewell Mill at Peterborough’s Sacrewell Farm will be hosting guided tours with millwrights for visitors as part of National Mills Weekend.
This Saturday and Sunday, National Mills Weekend is the annual festival of the UK’s milling heritage, and the chance for everyone to explore their local windmills and watermills.
Sacrewell Mill is a Grade II* listed, 18th century watermill, with history dating as far back, as far as we know, to 1086 and the Domesday Book.
However, the lie of the land suggests the
Romans were using waterpower at Sacrewell hundreds of years earlier, perhaps even from the sacred well that gives Sacrewell its name.
The current watermill was built in 1755 and remained a working mill until 1965, when lack of manpower stopped production.
National Mills Weekend is an annual celebration of the heritage and history of mills and the people who care for them today. It has been organised by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and its Mills Section since 1982 and takes place each year on the second weekend of May.
Visitors to Sacrewell Farm will get the chance to have a guided tour of the historic mill with expert millwrights. The tours are £2.50 per person, and have limited spaces, so pre-booking is recommended.
There are also lots of other things happening during the event, including heritage crafts with Nene Coppicing and Crafts, Millie the Mouse Storytime, show and tell from the Sacrewell
Archive and more . All activities during National Mills Weekend, including the mill tours, are only accessible with a valid farm admission.
Melissa Gray, the Charitable Activities Lead at The William Scott Abbott Trust, which has run Sacrewell Farm as an educational charity for over 60 years, said: “Visitors often tell us they had no idea how much history Sacrewell holds, and National Mills Weekend is the perfect time to explore those hidden treasures”.
All money from admissions, donations and the tours this weekend goes toward the running costs and upkeep of the Farm. Further information on Sacrewell Mill can be found on the mill’s website at www.sacrewell.org.uk.
Information on mills open nationwide can be found on the National Mills Weekend website at https://www.spab.org.uk/mills/national-mills-weekend