TROUBLE AT MILL TAKEN FROM NEWSLETTER 7TH JUNE 2025

If the problem we have been having milling for the last few weeks due to the lack of water, we now have another major problem. The bearing at the bottom of the main shaft has started squeaking. This bearing is very inaccessible without dismantling a significant part of the mill. We did manage to access it sufficiently to allow us to clean out the old lubricant from the bearing cup. Whilst doing this we found that somebody has placed a steel disc in the bottom of the bearing. Obviously this is not the first time this bearing has caused a problem. This is not surprising considering it was probably fitted when the waterwheel was fitted in 1843.

We would ideally like to replace the whole bearing but this would probably mean stopping the mill for at least 4 weeks and we have had a quote of £15,000 for the job. A disc of phosphorus bronze would be have been better. However, trying to source a suitable piece of metal is proving tricky, and so the steel plate hopefully is a stop gap measure to allow milling to continue.  watch this space to find out how successful it has been.

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