Campaign aims to save ‘wonderful’ mill building
COMEDIAN Griff Rhys Jones is deadly serious about trying to save one of Tewkesbury’s biggest and most famous buildings.
The star of 1980s comedy series Not the Nine O’clock News and Alas Smith and Jones is also the president of The Victorian Society, which campaigns to preserve Victorian and Edwardian architecture.
In this role, he has spoken about his fear for historic Healings Mill in Tewkesbury – the huge former flour mill that is on the banks of the River Avon and close to the High Street.
His society has announced it is in its top 10 endangered buildings in the UK.
Griff, who has presented various television programmes in his long career, said: “Healings Mill represents Tewkesbury and the surrounding area’s agricultural and industrial past and is a source of pride for many people who live around it.
“The mill’s riverside location and attractive architecture make it ideal for repurposing to breathe new life into the area. Its grand scale gives it the potential to become a focal point for the community, with space for small businesses, homes, leisure facilities or even a museum.
“Sadly, its current state of extreme disrepair means that urgent action is needed to save this building from deteriorating further and facing total demolition. We hope a developer will see the potential in repurposing this wonderful building.”
The society included the 19th century Grade II listed mill, which closed in 2006, in its top 10 and said they had been listed in no particular order. They included a school in Birmingham, an indoor market in Stoke-on-trent and a hospital in Cardiff.
Griff added: “Here we have buildings, crying out for our help, that take us straight to the real history of Victorian society. From mill owners’ palaces to model farms, to state-of-the-art hospitals to flamboyant department stores.
“Mills, industrial workplaces, schools, markets and the church in the heart of the countryside. This was a new world of consumers, legislators, industry and riches and it is all here.
“We must save it for coming generations. Like so much conservation, the issue is not the past, but the future. Can we keep these testaments alive for our great, great grandchildren as part of their own story?”
The society’s campaign aims to expose the plight of publicly nominated buildings in the hope that increased awareness and appreciation will help to save them.
Healings Mill dominates the landscape behind High Street in Tewkesbury. It is next to the Severn Ham, with its redbrick construction towering into the sky.
One part of the site, off Back of Avon, appears to be sinking into the river.
And in recent years there has been a big hole in the roof of one of the main buildings and a mixture of broken and boarded up windows at what has been regarded as an eyesore site.
In early 2020, Tewkesbury Borough Council said it was working with the mill’s owner to try to find a use for the historic site, which was built for Samuel Healing in 1865.
We hope a developer will see the potential in repurposing this wonderful building
Griff Rhys Jones