MORE ABOUT THE WATER.

The water supply to drive the mill is taken off the Cairn Beck. The headrace comes off the beck via a weir next to the the COOP shop. The present structure was built by Matthew and William Eckersley in 1918 according to the bronze plaque on it.

THE WEIR AS IT IS TODAY.

THE PLAQUE.

Originally there must have been a sluice gate on the weir. The deeds to the mill state the owners have a right of access across the land of the George Hotel then owned by the Carlisle State Management. The George was demolished in the 1990s and the COOP built.

A fish pass was installed on the weir in 2003 and presumably the sluice gate was removed.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE FISH PASS.

The removal of the sluice gate is a bit of a double edged sword. The lack of a sluice gate means we cannot control the amount of water that is diverted along the head race.  So in drought conditions, as we are experiencing now we cannot increase the share of the water going to the mill. However, because we cannot control the volume of water we take the Environment Agency cannot charge us for an extraction licence!!!

After the Cairn Beck flows over the weir it joins the Trout Beck. It continues as the Cairn Beck past the mill collecting the water diverted at the weir either as it bypasses the mill via the sluice gate at the cascade or after passing over the wheel, to join the River Eden about 200 yards downstream.

The question is has the mill always collected its water from the Cairn Beck or did it get its water from the Trout Beck?  There is documentary evidence both ways.

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