The Tour
To take a tour of Gayle Mill is to experience a unique example of industrial and social history spanning more than 230 years. The building remains largely unaltered since its first cotton-spinning days in the 1780s, and visitors will be able to see evidence of all the changes that have taken place.
The most substantial change was the removal of the original waterwheel and its replacement by the 1879 Williamson turbine - arguably the oldest in situ working turbine in the world - but there is an extraordinary sense of the past come to life as the turbine drives the Victorian line-shafting and original woodworking machinery.
The tour also shows the development of hydropower through the ages, and how each new technological advance revived the Mill's life as it turned from textile spinning to sawmilling and the production of electrical power.
And see for yourself how the story continues into the 21st century as the latest sustainable technologies enable Gayle Mill to be create all its own carbon-neutral energy for heating and power ...