We explore Queen’s Mill, the world’s largest stone grinding flour mill in Castleford, which is undergoing a major renovation to become an even bigger community asset.
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00:00 I'm the Chief Executive of Castleford Heritage Trust and we're at Queen's Mill today.
00:05 We're in the bridge room of Queen's Mill.
00:08 When we purchased the building it was literally being handed a bunch of keys for an industrial
00:13 flour mill.
00:14 So there was very little usable space so we've spent a number of years creating spaces that
00:21 we can use for the community and use to generate income for the Trust to keep us sustainable.
00:27 It's brought a building which was very much closed to the public really into use by the
00:33 community.
00:34 It's a real hub for activity for our tenants.
00:38 It's the biggest stone ground flour mill in the world.
00:41 It's one of the few mills in the country that still uses grindstones.
00:46 We still use two sets of grindstones to produce our flour.
00:51 We set this up to be a demonstration room as well so we have school parties coming in
00:57 and on open days we get people coming in from the community to see how flour is made because
01:02 the mill was built in 1822 and there's evidence of milling on this site from 1190 and there's
01:10 archaeological evidence of milling on this site from Roman times.
01:14 I probably came to Queen's Mill about six or so years ago and at that point was very
01:22 impressed by what was happening and my journey since then.
01:26 I've been coming back every so often dipping in and out and constantly amazed by now what
01:32 are you doing?
01:33 Where is what?
01:34 What floor is that?
01:35 What extension are you building?
01:37 New toilets you say?
01:38 You've got a boathouse.
01:39 Constant change and constant development and real energy and passion from everyone that's
01:44 been involved.
01:45 When we moved into the mill this room itself didn't exist.
01:48 You can see one of the silos in the background and there were eight of those in these spaces
01:54 so we had to take out seven of those.
01:57 We wanted to keep some of the features, wanted to keep the integrity of the building really
02:02 so we've left one siloed as an indication of what the building was used for and what
02:06 was here.
02:07 We've got a long list of volunteers who've all come with different skills.
02:11 We've had ex-teachers, ex-joiners, ex-builders.
02:14 Because they want to be a part of it we've got a coffee shop, a craft beer shop, tea
02:18 rooms and things like that so we do collect rent from people which helps to develop what
02:24 we're doing at the mill.
02:25 A key thing that we are trying to address is how, with the exception of Queen's Mill,
02:30 how over many, many years, decades, Castleford's turned its back on the riverside and we're
02:35 really keen to reconnect this fabulous asset with the town centre which is very, very,
02:41 very close by.
02:42 We've been very lucky to receive Townsteel money to enable us to do some more refurbishments.
02:49 I think it's very much at the heart of the town and the riverside and I think people
02:53 have taken it to their hearts because they've seen it grow and really are pleased to see
02:59 a building like this brought back into community use.
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