One at the more wrecked end of things so probably not of much interest to the usual photomuppet types - my interest was in the water-powered aspect.
A blacksmiths appears on maps by 1874, with a date on a concrete pillar inside suggesting it was still used in 1962.
Other than that I haven’t found any information about this place at all.
Photos are phone.
The water came from a weir on the neighbouring river, travelling through a corn mill (now someone’s house) before arriving at the smithy with a couple of yards head.
The culvert where the water went under road is just visible under the trees on the left.
Nearing the building the leat veers right towards a small hut, which turned out to contain a water turbine.
The turbine itself is invisible under mud at the bottom of a concrete tank, with just the drive shaft and stumps of slats connected to a control mechanism sticking out.
At the top of the shaft is a hinged fork connecting the sliding sleeve which bore the slats to a governor next door.
The trapezoidal mechanism still moves up and down but the balls no longer spin.
The surrounding area contains a mixture of tools and agricultural scrap.
The smithy itself is a roofless wreck with collapsing walls and full of brambles.
At the other end is the pit where the water wheel lived before it was replaced by a turbine.
Inside, shifting rubble, roof beams and fallen slates a hand-cranked pedestal drill emerges.
Then some hardware hanging on nails with more buried nearby.
Finally a couple of Victorian-era bellows, almost invisible at first under all the detritus, now dug out and put back on their feet.
Sort of interesting I suppose, the hope being that there might be other more complete examples in remote locations.
A blacksmiths appears on maps by 1874, with a date on a concrete pillar inside suggesting it was still used in 1962.
Other than that I haven’t found any information about this place at all.
Photos are phone.
The water came from a weir on the neighbouring river, travelling through a corn mill (now someone’s house) before arriving at the smithy with a couple of yards head.
The culvert where the water went under road is just visible under the trees on the left.
Nearing the building the leat veers right towards a small hut, which turned out to contain a water turbine.
The turbine itself is invisible under mud at the bottom of a concrete tank, with just the drive shaft and stumps of slats connected to a control mechanism sticking out.
At the top of the shaft is a hinged fork connecting the sliding sleeve which bore the slats to a governor next door.
The trapezoidal mechanism still moves up and down but the balls no longer spin.
The surrounding area contains a mixture of tools and agricultural scrap.
The smithy itself is a roofless wreck with collapsing walls and full of brambles.
At the other end is the pit where the water wheel lived before it was replaced by a turbine.
Inside, shifting rubble, roof beams and fallen slates a hand-cranked pedestal drill emerges.
Then some hardware hanging on nails with more buried nearby.
Finally a couple of Victorian-era bellows, almost invisible at first under all the detritus, now dug out and put back on their feet.
Sort of interesting I suppose, the hope being that there might be other more complete examples in remote locations.
