Work continues at the Longfords Mill site, with parts of the mill complex altering beyond recognition. As more and more of the site is stripped of it's old outbuildings, much is being revealed about the construction of the site. The most curious thing is that most of the site is built on concrete stilts! The video footage from a couple of weeks ago (April 14th) showed a large flat area, with piles of bricks scattered here and there. This area has now been ripped up, showing the stream that previously went under the building. Remains of the old concrete pillars are still showing. Research shows that the ground was so soft here, that when the newer buildings were built, the only way to get a solid foundation was to drive square section concrete piles into the soft ground. The piles were made in Stonehouse, have an enclosed steel rod in them and are eighteen feet long. A one ton steam hammer was used to drive the piles into the ground. The photo above shows the stream, an old piller and what's left of the platform. A rather large diameter (and I mean large) pipe can be seen running through the entire complex, originating at the large earth dam. I will tell you where this connects to in the next update.

Another old outbuilding has also been removed, this time at the front of the building, which I shall name the 'Engine Room' mainly because a very large green engine can now be seen with an equally large exhaust pipe, running up the side of the building alongside the main chimney. The engine is connected to a green thing, of which I have no idea what it is. My guess is that it's either a generator, or some sort of pump. From now on it shall be known as 'The Green Thing', until further notice. Beside the engine is a very big boiler, with a great big crack around the end of it. This is not a crack as such, it's where it is being chopped up with cutters. In true digital camera tradition, the batteries in my camera decided to expire just as I started to take some photos. However, Nailsworth Tacky Video Productions Inc (NTVPI) were on hand with their outside broadcast vehicle (they would not tell me what they were actually doing there), and very kindly shot some video and stills of the latest developments. I have got the news reel edited down to a reasonable size, and produced two video clips. One of the Engine 975k and another showing the current alterations 1.25MB of the old mill. Check back later for more updates on the mill development.

Related stories...

March 9th 2001, March 18th 2001, April 15th 2001, May 22nd 2001, Powerhouse August 20th 2001 October 13th 2001 May 3rd 2003