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The pull of a working waterwheel led chartered engineer Tony Coverdale to join the Saltford Brass Mill Project, a group of volunteers that care for the Somerset scheduled ancient monument.
The mill is situated on the banks of the River Avon in the village of Saltford, five miles west of Bath. The site used to house a group of 18th-century mills making metal goods in the Avon valley, but only the brass mill remains, with a furnace and working waterwheel.
“The working waterwheel, and use of the river for power generation, first attracted me, but since that date my research has taken me into the development of metallurgy during the Enlightenment. This includes mining, smelting, alloying, battery, rolling and annealing,” says Coverdale, who joined the project in 2007. “I find the research fascinating. The Enlightenment is an important period of technological development, when many of the fundamentals that we use today were established.”
The mill also contains a dynamo, powered by one of the mill’s four waterwheels, that was installed in the 1920s – an early example of the use of hydroelectric power.
The site is open to visitors in the spring and summer and is used to support projects with local universities. “We also use the waterwheel and dynamo to support outreach to schools as part of the Stem programme,” adds Coverdale.
“I also deliver lectures to local history groups and other interest groups. By the end of this year, I will have delivered around 50 talks.”
In the autumn and winter, working groups carry out repairs and maintenance to the site. “The practical, hands-on element of maintaining the mill is rewarding. Delivery of the talks provides an opportunity to explain technology to non-technical audiences, which furthers the understanding of engineering,” he says.
In the future, the volunteers plan to construct replica machinery to explain the operation of the mill, and to restore the sluice to bring the remaining waterwheel back to working order.
More information about the mill can be found at brassmill.com.