Blog

As you will know, we found this winter, that we needed more work done to the boiler than we expected. Although we had expected there to be work needed on the boiler and we had provisionally booked qualified welders to come and do the work, unfortunately the work could not be completed in the time that we had hoped. This lead to us having to delay the first steaming of the year. The good news is that the welding has now ben completed. Our next job is to fill the boiler with water and perform a pressure test. The test… Read more: Winter maintenance

Johnny Pickles was a local mechanical engineer. He began his working career as an apprentice to Henry Brown as a machinist and engineer in Earby. He went on to serve in various other companies to broaden his experience before returning to work for Henry Brown as a foreman. When the company wound up in 1929, Johnny went on to set up his own company called Henry Brown, Sons and Pickles Ltd who specialised as millwrights. In his spare time, Johnny was an acclaimed Model engineer, making scale models of steam locomotives and scientific instruments. In 1931 Johnny turned his interest… Read more: The Pickles Clock

So how many bricks are in the chimney? Funnily enough we don’t know an exact number. The chimney is built with multiple thicknesses of brickwork at the bottom. As the chimney gets higher, the number of thicknesses decreases as the chimney tapers. Our best guess, using various calculations is that there are about120,000 bricks, the combined weight of the chimney is around 500 tons. What sort of bricks were used? Although we can’t be certain, we are fairly sure that they are Accrington bricks or Nori. These are a very strong, iron hard engineering brick, famed for their strength and… Read more: Bancroft Mill Chimney – brickwork

One of the first things you notice as you approach the Bancroft Museum must be the chimney, the sheer size of it towering above the mill. Visitors often have many questions to ask, some are easier than others to answer, but I will try to answer some here. If you want to ask a question, please ask away! One of the most frequently asked questions that is asked is, how tall is the chimney? The simple answer is about 124 feet tall for those us of us still using feet and inches, or nearly 38 metres for those who prefer… Read more: Bancroft Mill Chimney

I thought for the first series of blogs, we could look at what goes on behind the scenes. As many of you know, the engines run on steam power. Unfortunately we cannot just make steam and run the engines, its a bit more complicated than that. Over winter, the boiler has to undergo a thorough clean. This involves firstly emptying the boiler of water, and is generally done on our last steaming day in November once visitors have left. A few days later once the boiler is cold, work can begin on the flues. This starts with the removal of… Read more: First steaming of the Year

Welcome to our new website! As you can see, we now have a new website, which we will use to highlight some of the things that you can see around the mill if you come for a visit. Over the winter, a lot of people have been busy beavering away to ensure that everything will be ready for our first steaming day which will be on 12th March . The mill will be open from 11am, when you can come and have a look round while the volunteers prepare the engine to start running at about 1pm. I plan to… Read more: A New Year and a New Website!