Christmas 2020: Santa's Visit to Alderney

Perforation type: 13 ¼x13 ¼

Subject:

85 pennies.

Santa visiting the Bonne Terre watermill*

Additional:

*The Watermill in the Bonne Terre Valley is one of the oldest surviving sites on Alderney. The earliest record of the Mill is circa 1236. The present ruins are the remains of a mill rebuilt in 1796. The Mill and adjoining lands were given to the Alderney Society who continue to renovate and preserve this vital part of islands history. 

 

The watermill complex project has been gathering volunteers and momentum over the last eight years and is one of the Society's major projects. The watermill complex involves work on the remains of the ancient mill building including wooden mill wheel, mill pond, medieval reservoir and leates channelling water from the reservoir to the mill pond and on to drive the mill wheel.

The Mill and adjoining lands were given to the Alderney Society by the Impey family in 1972. For over 20 years the buildings were allowed to become derelict and overgrown. In 1994 the Society decided to make the regeneration of the Mill a priority and a small amount of funding was budgeted to begin the project. Volunteers began the laborious task of cutting back the brambles and undergrowth and get access to the mill.

 

In the intervening years teams of volunteers have continued the renovating work. The leat (the aqueduct brining water from the mill pond to the wheel) has been partly rebuilt. The millwheel has been dug out, cleaned, repainted and strengthened. The main mill shaft has been rebuilt as has the drive wheel and the stonework supporting the millwheel. The wooden buckets for the wheel are currently being fitted, and new arms to replace the temporary arms are being installed. Work on rebuilding the mill building is progressing and all the while the site around the mill is being improved.

All of these works are being done by a small group of aging volunteers who meet at the mill at 10.00 on Tuesday mornings.