Personal Blog of Ellen MacArthur

Hello again all!

Things have been a bit quiet recently as I’ve been trying to take a bit of time off… However this time off, which has included dog walks and sailing has also lead me to think more about a few subjects.

The first of which was a walk a few days ago near the town of Newport on the Isle of Wight. Whilst wandering down what appeared to be the old railway I stumbled upon a little wooden bridge which crossed a fantastic, and powerful little river with a fantastic weir. It made me think about the power of the water, and the fact that the river ran 24 hours a day and seven days a week. It made me think what a fantastic resource it was, and also what a beautiful place it was, to be looking over the water!

Whilst wandering on I continued to mull over the stream idea, when I came across a panel which was named ‘The Mill Trail’ Further reading, and the studying of the fantastic annotated map of Newport showed that in the past this resource really had been used! There were at one stage no less than 14 mills all along the two adjoining rivers which ran into Newport, all harnessing the power of these rivers, which can be used time and time again along their length… I was fascinated by this, then read on to find there were other businesses such as the tannery which also needed large quantities of water.

Whilst wandering on I thought more about the area where I grew up in Derbyshire, and the fact that there were a whole host of mills within just a few miles of the valley. The ‘Old Rag Mill’ just 15 mins walk from home which no doubt emplyed many people from the nearby countryside, ran from a small lake where I used to row my little dinghy, and others quite close ran off streams and rivers nearby. Some are now situated along tracks which are rarely passed by vehicles these days, though in their day the valley would have been a great resource attracting various industries.

Interesting… and good food for thought!

ellen