My £1million light bulb moment
Family spends 20 years (and a small fortune) reviving 18th Century mill that provides energy for 40 village homes
IMAGINE a home in a tranquil setting with no energy bills, just the muted sounds of water flowing below. For Stephen Young, 62, who converted a historic 18th Century watermill in North Yorkshire, it became a reality.
Situated in an idyllic spot on the River Ure, near the cathedral city ity of Ripon, Tanfield Mill not only produces enough energy to power Mr Young’s property but also supplies electricity to about 40 houses nearby and generates cash by feeding into the National Grid.
A retired electrical engineer,, Mr Young was fascinated by renewable energy and had been looking for a watermill for years. He had moved to the US andnd came across Tanfield Mill while he was back in Britain on business.
The derelict property consisted of the mill, a pig barn and a concrete silo.. Stephen saw its potential and bought it for £350,000 without telling his wife. He has spent the past 20 years and nearly £1million restoring it, with the help of a stonemason, joiner and labourer. ‘I’m a big fan of industrial buildings and their relevance to the social fabric of the area,’ Stephen says. ‘They were such important places.’
After converting the pig barn into a comfortable home for his parents, he turned his attention to transforming the mill into a luxury five-bedroom home for him and his wife – and also created two eco-homes within the mill complex. The five-bedroom home is now for sale at £1.25million with estate agents Buchanan Mitchell.
The home includes original stonework from 1790 and incorporates some of the mill’s old machinery. The property’s black steel staircase with 4in oak treads was built by a local ironmonger whose grandfather used to change the bearings on the mill’s old turbine.
After replacing the sluice gates and pulling down the 60ft concrete silo (which had to be hydraulically ‘eaten’ by a ‘hydraulic nibbler’ brought in by police escort), Mr Young started work on the mill races that carry the water into the mill, lining them with 5,000 tons of local limestone. The work, including the construction of two bridges, took two years to complete, by which time Mr Young was figuring out how to dig up the mill’s old turbine. It was 20ft underground and weighed five tons.
‘It was no small feat,’ he says. ‘It was underneath the building and there were complicated lifts with a huge crane to get it up and get it out. It was one of the most challenging things of my life.’
The turbine was sent back to its manufacturers, Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon in Kendal, who still had the original drawings from 1893 and spent two years restoring it. ‘It came back bright and shiny, designed to last another 100 years,’ Stephen says. The turbine back in place, Mr Young started to power it up, but the vibration was so severe that the cobbles outside started shaking. He made design alterations and fitted a new gearbox to cure the problem before finally connecting it to the Grid.
The mill was raring to go, but when he applied for a licence from the Environment Agency, it was concerned that salmon would get caught in the turbine. He spent £25,000 monitoring the 500-yard mill race, proving the fish were fine, and even installed wire screens – but the project stalled for three years, eventually prompting him to put the mill on the market. He had started looking for a watermill in France when he was finally granted a licence in 2007. HE SAYS: ‘The first time I powered up a light bulb from the energy that I produced was the best job satisfaction I have ever had.’ As passionate about wildlife as he is about the mill, Mr Young also installed 40 nesting boxes, which attract starlings, swifts and swallows every year. He says: ‘The wildlife is spectacular, whether it’s an otter slinking down the mill bypass or young dippers perfecting their swimming techniques.’
Although he’d planned to retire at Tanfield with his wife, Catherine, also 62, they recently became grandparents and want to be near their family in New York.
Mr Young points out that the mill requires plenty of attention – including a daily inspection of the control room, river and mill race. Every week, eight bearings need to be lubricated and the mill race drained.
‘It brings a new focus when you’re responsible for your own electricity,’ he says. ‘It’s a beautiful place with the river, the peacefulness, the wildlife and the feeling of sustainability. There’s a muted heartbeat inside when the turbines are running. If I hadn’t come along, this building would have fallen down. I’ve added two centuries off life to it.’