An amateur film produced by Derek Mathieson between 1979 and 1980 about the restored Crakehall Water Corn Mill in the village of Crakehall, North Yorkshire. The film includes an interview with Colonel Whitaker Holmes who has restored the derelict mill to full working order. He is also filmed inside the mill grinding the corn using the power of the Crakehall Beck. Credit: Derek Mathieson presents Title: The Mill The film opens with general views of the village of Crakehall in North...

An amateur film produced by Derek Mathieson between 1979 and 1980 about the restored Crakehall Water Corn Mill in the village of Crakehall, North Yorkshire. The film includes an interview with Colonel Whitaker Holmes who has restored the derelict mill to full working order. He is also filmed inside the mill grinding the corn using the power of the Crakehall Beck. Credit: Derek Mathieson presents Title: The Mill The film opens with general views of the village of Crakehall in North Yorkshire, including St Gregory’s parish church and houses around the village green. General views follow of water flowing over Crakehall Beck. Colonel Whitaker Holmes sits on a bench beside the beck and lights a pipe. Colonel Holmes recounts a history of the mill to camera. He describes the poor state of the building when he bought it. However, after two years work, it is doing well. Colonel Holmes continues to say that they cannot use English wheat with the machinery: they have to get in Canadian wheat. However, he hopes the problems with the wheat will be solved in three or four weeks. Old photographs show the condition of the mill both inside and out after laying derelict for fifty years until saved by Colonel Holmes. various shots follow of the newly restored mill including close ups of the woodwork, stone grinding wheel and the iron workings, which hold it in place. A hand-written wooden plaque reads: ‘T. Harrison Millwright, Gilling East, York 1980’. Inside the mill, Colonel Holmes turns the lever that opens the sluice gates. The waterwheel and the wooden grinding machinery now turn. Wheat drops through a hole, along a chute and into the grinding stones. On the ground floor, flour drops from a chute into a bowl. More shots follow of the grinding mechanism at work. Colonel Mills uses a cup to scoop the flour from the bowl into a bag that he seals with tape. On a nearby table sit a number of 1.5kg bags of Crakehall Water Corn Mill stone ground wholemeal flour. Outside the mill, a sign advises visitors of the opening times and admission charges. The film ends with a view of the mill and beck within the rural setting. Title: The end