Treasure hunting in Wath Mill: 16-02-2016

There was real excitement in the air today as 15 of the NCVs turned up for what had been advertised by James as a 'treasure hunt' at Wath Mill. With the added incentive of being able to work in conditions that didn't require wellies and waterproofs what was there not to like? There were 5 other volunteers from the AONB office to help with the job - so plenty of man (and woman) power was available.

Wath mill

The mill is very old - the wheel originally being moved from Foster Beck mill in the 1500s. It was re-built in 1880 but is in need of a lot of refurbishment to bring it back to its former glory. Today we needed to sort through many years worth of accumulated 'stuff' and categorise it as either:

• Estate equipment for keeping on the ground floor
•  Artifacts (i.e. the treasure) for putting on display on the first floor when it is eventually turned into an educational area as part of the UNLP project.
• 'Plastifacts' (i.e. any old rubbish) for putting in the skip - eventually some of the rubbish was further categorised to allow metal to be recycled.

As the job was being done the two floors of the mill had to be swept clean of straw, dust and sawdust. Dust masks were very much the order of the day. By lunchtime the bulk of the task was complete and just a small team was left at the mill to finish the job. The photos below show what was going on.

Ros E.

 The job ahead was quite daunting.

But it soon started to look much emptier and cleaner...

NCVs got busy with brushes and spades...

...downstairs on the stone floor...

...and upstairs on the wooden floor.

Slowly the treasure started to emerge:

 Any old iron?

 Graham demonstrates the motorised cotton reel.

This circular saw machine had to stay where 

it was as it was just too heavy to shift.

 The latest in lightweight tool sharpening technology.

 Old Father Time left his scythe behind.

Anyone need anything stencilling?

The wooden lamp hook was scorched.

(Poor visibility due to the swirling dust clouds!)

Unfortunately no beer in this old bottle.

And what is this? 

 Of course - one of those!! 

(A branding iron to brand the owner's initials onto wooden tools)

 By close of play there were many bags of 

floor sweepings to be tipped.

James did his best with them but there 

is only so much a skip will hold.

They  had to be left for a second skip,

 along with all the other rubbish that wouldn't fit in!

Now then - here's this week's competition. Answers can be submitted as comments to the blog and the correct answers will be given next week. 

Here are two treasures that were found. Can you think what they may be? Bonus points for creative ideas!

ITEM 1

ITEM 2