We are progressing important conservation works to Gunns Mill.

We have had amazing grant support from Historic England and others.

This will help us repair the bridge house at Gunns Mill furnace, one of Britain's most important industrial heritage sites.

It is the only surviving bridge house for a furnace of this type dating from the late 17th century. The Trust plans to make this part of the building a usable space in the future.This phase is a big step towards the full conservation of this monument and getting it back in to community use.

This is the one of many major repair phases at Gunns Mill since 2020, when the Trust successfully completed repairs to the mill waterwheel pit. This was followed by urgent structural works to the north-east wall in 2022.

A major step forward has been the repair of the wonderful timber roof over the Bridge House, completed at the beginning of 2025. The 400 year old oak trusses were extensively decayed, but after nearly a year's work have now been completely repaired. Specialist heritage contractors using traditional carpentry skills restored the original frames by 'scarfing in' new oak to give them a new lease of life. They also reinstated a section of elevated or 'catslide' roofing at the end of the building which had been added when it was a paper mill to create space for a small room in the upper level. This was visible in early photographs but had totally disintegrated by the 1980s. Masonry repairs included restoring an arched doorway through the side wall, which had been bricked up when the space was used to house farm animals.

As a result of all this work, it has been possible to remove all the internal scaffolding and temporary walls in the top half of the building that had prevented the roof from total collapse. For the first time in at least hundred years it is possible to look right through the whole building from end to end, giving a sense of how it appeared in its industrial heyday. This is a great leap forward for the restoration of Gunns Mill.

Our next project will involve repairs to the timber framing of the lower half of the building, the Drying Loft.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1186479

So please give whatever support you can to help us save this iconic building.

http://www.fodbpt.org/index.html