Abandoned Flint Mill (Before and After) | Restoration Man | Full Documentary | Reel Truth History

[Music] across Britain thousands of historic buildings have been neglected their own is struggling to restore them because of planning restrictions design problems or lack of money luckily some romantics do take on the challenge of converting and restoring these forgotten gems [Music] but it isn't for the faint-hearted it's that here and it's falling apart I think it can push you to the limit I see we have to find a way of Garen is done but if we don't then we lose everything there are often churches mills and bars but also factories warehouses and industrial buildings that are often abandoned because they're so difficult for residential conversion these buildings have as much rich history and tell as many fascinating stories about our past as any stately home or medieval castle these are palaces of Industry and so is such a privilege to live in one as an architect I relish the challenge that these unusual buildings give us when we're trying to create a place called Hall this time a couple of cereal restorers meet their match I don't know it looks pretty horrific to some people don't know what I did in a previous life but obviously this one's not running quite to plan [Music] at the foot of the picturesque Marshall valiant Staffordshire is the historic town of stone not far from the Victorian town centre shouted by the railway as a pocket of older buildings dating from the 18th century most visitors to a sport head for the restaurants in the restored corner but for Alan Appleby and his wife Dora there was the dilapidated old Flint well next door but called the dry Allen is a professional building surveyor who's also a seasoned restorer he and door have already restored and lived in three years that properties they both have family connections in a storm and now that their children have grown up and left home they came to sell here and throw themselves into one final project Dora and I were out looking for property and we drove down through the railway bridge and this poor old building was sitting here covered in ivy and cracks I turned to her and I said we could do something with that this one is special to me because it's never been a home so it's gonna be quite different it's exciting to me as a as a surveyor in a serial renovator of buildings that I think all this is a good one and we've got one left in us they paid a hundred thousand pounds for the gray to list at mill bought with their savings they've estimated the work will take a year and have a budget of one hundred and seventy five thousand pounds which will be financed by the sale of their current home they then plan to rent locally until the mill is complete the one I've got to be really really careful about is the money everything can be solved with another watcher cache and we haven't got endless watches a cache however experienced they are it's still easy to run into trouble on a difficult project like this so I hope I can lend a helping hand it's amazing this I like other side of that railroad bridge you feel like you're in 21st century commercial supermarket land and then as soon as you come through the archway you've got back in time it's like a little hidden world absolutely absolutely this particular piece of land has been kept in private ownership for many many years so it's just never gotten redeveloped and and that's how its ended up with this strange little nook right so close to the so close to the town center she'll just let back Italy so you can see the scale of what you've taken on here because it's not good hasn't it it has some issues you've got an enormous crack I mean this cracked everywhere to be honest but that was a big old chunky one I mean that cracks gonna be two inches wide at that top part but it's quite ambitious isn't it really I mean it is a wreck I'd love to know what your surveyors report said I'd love to know about it's it all comes from here it all custom-fit it's the gut feeling in its current state the mill is a shadow of its former self the wheel has gone then the channel of water that once feni's was filled in long ago but when it was up and running the stream would have poured down onto a huge wooden water whale this generated the energy to power 15 tons of machinery background flint into a fine powder all that is gone - and the male is gone one huge open space with the footprints wow this is great it's quite decieving because from the outside I thought it felt like quite a small building but when you come into it sort of space in it so what do you know about the building it seems from what we can work out it was purpose built as a flint grinding mill producing powdered Flint for the Potteries industry and if you look carefully up into the walls there you can see that there are arcs cut into the size of them four main walls yeah and that was to give space for a big rotating grinding pan but in the 19th and 20th century it was used as a store and then later on as a vehicle garage they chopped a big hole in the front wall to get the lorries in put a vehicle inspection pit in fantastic if you've got a vehicle garage you need somewhere to work on you on your vehicle's go underneath a brilliant little day so it's literally a maintenance inspection pit yep okay Laurent come in for a time or two yeah yeah Parkin there and the mechanics would be underneath lately so I got on this deck is that safe to go upstairs on what remains of the first fool you so market the most distinctive windows the circular holes are are quite common in the flute mills in this area and they seem to have been provided for light and ventilation for the grinding pan area so that you've got something to work with the daylight and you've got ventilation to keep the silica dust now they ve lungs as best as possible originally the mills will would have turned the new urban air but it was prone to freezing up in winter suppers later enclosed in this lead to extension if you look just behind you that's the center bearing there you can imagine there's that's the middle of the waterwheel and according to to the records it was 22 feet high so that's 11 up and 11 down so this was full of waterwheel water coming straight in over the top of there is that water lapping good spots mister severe alright very sore rotation at Eve's level yes oh no it looks pretty horrific to some people but it is pretty horrific Alan and Dora have worked on the design of their new home themselves and got a local architect to draw up their scheme the building faces south and the main entrance hall will lead into the central hall where the whale once stood the new kitchen and dining area will be on the ground floor and a new office in toilet in the new extension on the first floor there's a sitting room and utility room and in the extension for the bedroom and on the top floor within the roof space as their master bedroom suite with access to a balcony the one billet I don't get yes okay I just don't get it if you don't mind me saying no place is your dressing area in your showroom on your first floor I don't like that personally myself yeah Sonny's fault it's Michael I don't like that at least why it doesn't work I'll tell you what the store reasons gone the main reason is that why would you have a dressing room and showroom actually living area anyway when you actually gonna physically use it as a privacy issue and secondly we're south and this way we've got two windows here facing the truth that way yeah straight out the front which is lovely little and where you've got all that beautiful natural oh yeah beautiful window yeah it's kind of being pulled by your dressing room and shower okay to know what it is you've fallen into that trap and everybody does it is that when you've got a space which is beautiful you walk into it to gone wow this is amazing there's a danger that once you start making it functional and practical which I know you have to cuz it's a home you start to lose the architectural quality of what's there because you stopped them in too many rooms too many boxes too many walls too many floors if Alan and Dora were looking for a challenge they certainly found one and to add to everything else they've got a major engineering problem on their hands the mill was built into the side of the hill and the weight of all that earth is threatening to push the building over so the whole bank will need to be dug out this building is absolutely makkad it's honestly in danger of collapse any day I don't know whether they're brave or foolhardy islandora apathy of fighting to serve a forgotten eighteenth-century Flint map which is in a derelict state one wrong move and the whole thing collapse the first job is to award with the excavations of thrillers the old man's drainage pipe the now [Music] just it's a lot of effort and a lot of money to go to you know men here for ten days instead of three days islandora had budgeted 175,000 pounds to behold that's the ratio the figure that's me always sounded optimistic even for people with their past restoration experience between four months since my first visit [Music] morning girl you need your lovely this is the building is still standing it is a remarkable miracle yes there's no doubt about it those cracks are a lot wider than when I was here the first time not only are they wider they've been joined by another one just about 300 mil to the left of that vertical yeah yeah so yes the building is continuing to move which is a concern but we've taken down the bits that were about to fall down right and we're keeping a very careful eye on the rest because this building on a simple level just needs to be strapped together doesn't it good belts just tighten it up and strap it in so it doesn't move again and you start the building your garage yes eventually eventually it took us nearly 10,000 quid to get to the floor that's ten thousand pounds extra the new budget at for us and that's the contingency fund it's just it happened at the beginning instead of animator for in the end so anybody else know yeah it's a little bit worrying when the contingency disappears that early because you've still got and we have got a bit more contingency but we've used up some of that on this hole in the ground as well I soon three full concrete votes 24 cubic meters in normally again but there is some good news where they needed to relieve pressure on the back of the building they started the enormous task of digging out the bank and they found something really exciting and have uncovered all this yet absolutely fantastic I mean it just to give you an idea the top of the ground was here what roughly where my head height is now all this work was uncovered and I'm assuming that this because of a chip was funneling the water correct down to the wheel correct but it's still here under all that muck for about 150 years we think and there's one more little thing to show you up there you're loving this aren't you oh it's actually genuinely fantastic this here it's a wall and check it out we don't know what this pit was for here you go this is crazy yeah and that saucepan he's young exactly where it was which I should know you can it's all been recording okay there's a couple of ideas one of them was that they used to keep food that they cooked and brought to work warm in a hay box they sort of bury in it's right keeps it warm during the day this is real it's good fun real history that's good fun the millet stone has been abandoned and forgotten for almost 50 years and documents relating to its history are few and far between but this 1775 map shows us that it was once one of ten Flynn bells on a three-mile stretch of a tributary of the River Trent known as historic [Music] what I didn't know was the key rule these modes played the revolutionized Alice Staffordshire pottery industry transforming tea sets infinitives are consummate retired engineer Barry Larkin who runs ma steel email two miles upstream from stone that is beautiful look at that oxide gone back in time most believes the last operational Flint grinding now in the valley they finally stopped production in 1961 and this is where all the grinding would happen yet that's correct yes even though the mill no longer grinds Flint Berry keeps the machinery and work in order as a reminder the industry dominated his area to do so Barry why were the so many mills and the Marshall Valley well the lie of the land ranked itself to eat Scotch bruecke flows right through the bottom of the valley which was ideal for water mills equally as the mills became used for Flint great grinding eventually they were not that far away from the Potteries where the demand for Flint was and so why did this if you like this kind of burst of activity come around because of Flint why did we need Flint well we've got some original eighteenth-century pottery here not a very careful for this stuff that's basically the color of pottery before Flint was introduced you know it was dependent on the color of the clay in this area a lot of it was red or at the best of gray and they found that if they mixed Flint it helped to make the clay white here we have a part of a little later than the same period that you can see that is generally white or or cream what a discovery that wasn't yes incredible really but it wasn't Flint in its raw state that had this effect here's a normal flint nodule first it had to be baked in a kiln the intense heat transformed the Flint from being hard and black to bro what a difference to go from that it couldn't be more different could it not only is he white it's now in a state that it can be reduced to a powder by crushing or grinding made the resulting pottery stronger and it also assisted in the kiln firing of the article and that they don't lose as many in the kernel now obviously there's lots of other industries yes area but when Flint came along it must have been like I've made a big bet for something like the internet movement of the of the 20th [Laughter] back on site the garage is up and saw as a boundary wall to give them a bit of privacy from the former corn mill next door now they're starting on the block work for the new extension which meant built will act as a buttress to support the unstable east wall [Music] inside the delegate job of bracing this fragile structure is about to begin two huge deals each weighing a quarter of the tongue are being carefully lifted into position and bolted together these beams will brace the building and give it some much-needed stability while providing support for the new first floor beautiful part on the good thing is now that we've we've started the process of repair and so it's looking good it's looking good I'm much happier now [Music] it's ten months since our first gangster now noise for the first time in years this derelict building is getting its strength back and the new extension is giving you much needed support morning good morning hello there's the doorbell in future it looks amazing and this is all new this is a fantastic new organ and through here yeah and you've got steals in you've got the first floor beams up there which look absolutely brilliant hubby let's come back together it's all in one piece and the girls looks good but Sam I sort of timber friend shared it gives the illusion of being timber-framed it's actually a block controller block construction with insulation and weather-boarding outside that being the construction design for the extension so the extension will look as similar to my only worry about that is it looks so good and so comfortable the boys are just hanging out for the whole day like I'm sitting there doing their cups of tea I'll never come out it is very smart on its really really nice can we go upstairs I'm keen to know if they've taken my advice and remove that unnecessary shower room that was ruining this is the first time I've been up here I'm in appear time it's brilliant I'm so glad that Charu wasn't in here you changed at all you got rid of your shower room yes babe lovely lovely system open plan space a little shower towel wrapped around them naked with guests around you were absolutely right and when you said what the heck is that doing here it just made us throw everything up in the air and think whoa we lost the plot but I think gone for the unplanned film when you stand here now and you see the two beautiful realm windows there and there are two beautiful windows at this side it just breathe the planners of us that the near extension be distinctly different from the old mill so it's going to be cutting timber that's flying on isn't it I was counting then making good progress with the new bells but at the back of the old mill it's a different story I mean when you look at something like that and the condition of that building and the amount of air think you've had to dig out this is a kind of border on a kind of civil engineering job it's like building a bridge or something like that you haven't a dig soil out put concrete in waterproof tank make sure that you don't push this thing over I'm amazed it didn't collapse 20 years ago honestly what's great is that Allen and Dora have managed to sell her old house they've actually moved sighs yep they're renting close to site and the sale has released a hundred and seventy five thousand pounds they budgeted for the restoration but as this has become an even more difficult project I fear there may not be enough to mind me asking how much money you've spent so far in the bill you know title one five one one five one one five I mean what is your limit in your head that you had become double spending on this building and I - Nicole - sounds good to me 225 230 is probably I really like to have it all wrapped up with little bows on the top tada that would be amazing anything that's gonna be tough you think that's gonna be - well I just think it's one hundred and fifteen thousand and now and you're not winning the water tight if you have a full list of all the works that need to be done on this building if I'm honest you're probably not even a quarter of the way down that list but you're halfway through your budget I don't think about kitchens or bathrooms or anything I have a tin bath it's now known Vanderburgh and the race is on tomato aioli and water ties so that they can get on with the interior works during the winter months the first job is roof obviously this old this old roof had no underlay anos arcing layer beneath the the tiles and no insulation at all so the old tiles go off we put insulation over the top between underneath and then we'll put a new membrane on the top and the tiles back and faster bald on the underside if all goes well they should be done before the bad weather starts but with the long delays and the footage of continuing to rise that they can't afford for anything else to go wrong install in Staffordshire Alan and Dora Appleby the 14 months into the restoration of their 18th century Flint build spiraling costs have been there already fifty thousand pounds over there hundred and seventy five thousand pounds for jets and now winter has struck with only half of roof and no sign of the bespoke windows morning good morning do you love it do you and happy New Year to you it's absolutely that altar with all the icicles up there cold cold day outside today and you're not with the more time the weather had the last word you've got the usual UK construction break over Christmas and followed by snow for us too and that guys have been really really trying hard to get the roof finished and sorted but they're just fighting against the elements at the moment but where are your windows they're not even here they can't release them because the paint hasn't cured properly and they don't want it to go out in the weather so I suppose they're saying that the weather's holding them up it's a bit of a shame actually isn't it it's a real disappointment for me you know mr. grumpy mr. cool you're even more grumpy grumpy and much poorer these screams come from the office I always thought their budget was optimistic but the reality of how much this build is actually gonna cost was beginning to hit home how's the house the money can't be honest well come on you had your budget of 175 on suddenly I was living in the dream world you just fool yourself into believing that you might possibly be able to do it and I reckon we won't be far short of two and a half by the time we finished 250,000 I was only about 50 grand left yeah readily accessible whoa so you spent two underground yeah we don't do holidays much you're not gonna do holidays Oh end up with the movies big one didn't want one that might end up one so what I'll get it I'll keep working a bit longer even that 50 grand might be tight it might be close to a three sorry about that at least in the new extension the windows have arrived and RN and a dry interior means that they're able to get going with the stood work and plaster boarding but I'm really interested to see what progress they've managed to make in the original building how's the grown floor coming on Oh quite well actually quite well I'm pleased oh this was moved on this is coming on feels completely different than ever before this is where you had the platform that's right now this main floor yeah yes as the timber from Chris China put it back the planners weren't particularly fussy apartment keeping that but Dora liked the fact that it gave it a sort of kitchen area underneath the mezzanine and I I thought it was part of the history or part of the garage use of this building so let's try and hang onto it what will be the new kitchen has a new concrete floor and Dora and Alan are determined that another relic from the garage years the old vehicle inspection pits the inspection pit Timbers oh look at that have now been saved there's new rub your horrible things that we dragged out of the way are they lovely nice and simple it's really simple actually but it's that kind of tough hard industrial building deserves you've got to admire Alan Andorra's commitment to this restoration despite being 75,000 pounds over budget there's no sign of them slowing down Oh corners they've brought me to a local salvage yard to look at another piece of furniture they're having students this is like going back in time this place is [Music] a word they found this massive solid steel workbench in a local garage it dates from the 1920s the door wants to use it as a main engine unit this is how we found it oh my roster them yeah with several layers of ghastly paint that's all been robbed them and this is they're just starting to work and I just to see how it comes out table would spend two months grinding up the paint sandblasting and finally boxing it after its restoration don't have a bottom piece of furniture but a little Sun comes up you know when you take you but we can't replicate that Luke no Dan you know piece that's all your potato isn't it in Texas about to come back even all the bits where it's been not been bashed a bit it doesn't matter really it just don't still the character of it I think he does Alan and Dora have always been determined that their restoration of the mill will celebrate its industrial past every year our mill and the others in the Motor Show Valley was sending six thousand tons of dry old Flint and the ten-mile journey by canal to the Potteries of stoke-on-trent the Hader best amateur pottery industry has long since all but stork is still a Center for ceramic production I've come to meet Emma bridgewater who's designed cell all over the world so ask her what prompted this mid 18th century demand for paler plates there was this raging craze for Chinese porcelain imported at enormous cost and that's got a lovely creamy white consistency and the Potters here they wanted to be able to produce something like that suddenly what was required was something much more refined and pale the man who really capitalized on this craze was Josiah Wedgwood the great innovator of the Staffordshire pottery industry he was committed to coming up with the perfect recipe of clay and ground Flint and in 1763 he launched cream where the beautiful and affordable creamy white tableware which immediately went into mass production Wedgwood have much bigger dreams and what he wanted was to compete with the Chinese he wanted to sell to royalty and the great big growing population in London he was really focused on that he moved his showroom around the West End to be where it was all happening all the time I really do think that creme were that early late 18th early 19th century Queen where some of the nicest staff this pot is like eggshell by the mid 19th century most of the big factories had started grinding flint themselves using steam driven machinery but in the early days of the boom the Marechal Valley has been the main supplier and I think I found some documents that - this packets of moments this is a letter which was found in a house in stone because we know that there's only one Flint now installed this letter might be tired into our mel it's-it's to go call Robert's bill and it's busy tipping him off about a fantastic good quality shipment of Flint does he want nothing the other things that are found this is this is an in book from it seems to me like a middle of Huckle badly he's bought grounded from rob bill but the amazing leap is then his out book and his out book is then supplying whose name is it designer is it desired how exciting so our tiny little humble Miller was a really important part of that supply chain we've got playing a crucial world 150 years later and they still manufacturing creme earthenware and stop but with one key difference they've replaced sent for the chemical oops this is our 21st century flips yeah in effect l should be so happy about like summons on our Flint bills under now forever and much of the process is still done by hand following the same methods that were diffused in Josiah Wedgwood stay they make around a million pieces of creamed earthenware in this factory every year our mail may no longer be an operation with the product of help create still the big British success story so the same it was aimed all the way and that's the dot what does that mean she what's the sign of a good one it's March and finally there's some good news for Allen his bespoke doors and windows have arrived behind schedule excuse me the roof structural faults sadly the celebrations are short-lived just before Easter the bad weather returns the called the spring we plan to get the bank excavated on this west side to keep the bandits away from the mill and then along come the blizzards and the snow again so everybody's gone home dig is gone I don't know what I did in a previous life but obviously this one's not running quite to plan the budget certainly isn't going to plan in addition to the purchase price of a hundred thousand pounds they've already spent around two hundred and fifty thousand pounds on restoring the mail you get your frustrating days where you've had really really bad weather jobs can't get done I am tired we're both sad we're both exhausted I mean you don't sleep the same because it's just it's constant wheel going around in your head you don't I don't think we've had a really good night's sleep for a long time [Music] it's 18 months since I first came to the mouth and there's a huge push by everyone to finish this project that's coconut isn't it it eats my flowing on well that's all despite Allen's experience as a professional severe and restorer of all buildings this one at Phillips has pushed them to the limit it's fantastic heading in the right direction so it's great how buddies have been recently anybody that's done restoration project on a listed building will know that it will stretch you it will stretch you to whatever your limit happens to be there's been doors slammed and tears cried and you know head scratched and if you listen carefully you can hear the sound of piggy banks smashing in the distance because we're raiding every penny we've got in every cupboard to finish this what's the money situation we're knocking towards 300 we're dipping into resources that really should be reserved for feeding our retirement you nearly there despite being 125,000 pounds over budgets the level of workmanship on this restoration hasn't been compromised today they're filling the passport metal staircase which will lead from the living room books to their bedroom sugar [Music] thanks plip these are great rooms only I love the way you've got the Timbers all beautifully revealed and the bits of the little panels of plaster in between Oh fantastic oh great another little balcony yeah good to sit up there look at all this on the return and what you've done that okay 60 tons of rock I'm not surprised you're spending all your money it's incredible a commitment that Alan and Dora have made to this restoration project it really has pushed them to the absolute limit the kind of hit rock-bottom really on a positive note they're kind of pushing to get to the end and they can see later at the end of the tunnel now that decorating is happening and things like that the bad side is the budget is completely out of control and the now throw on every single penny that they've got to try and get us finished it's two years since I first set eyes on the flip mill back then it was in a tragic State unused and unloved and on the verge of collapse [Music] now this historic relic of a bygone era has been saved and give me newness of life as the home [Music] death collector warning oh you you will not you nearly looking as smart as me well I do try KZ me unbelievable no longer naked what used to be the old wheel house has been transformed into a spacious hall with traditional lime wash enormous this is looking very small isn't it really nice attention to detail out there you've just got it right because it breeds it works really well for the building but it gives it a really fresh lock doesn't when they started this restoration the Mel was one big open space it's now been divided up and a bright welcome and kitchen occupies the ground floor at home sweet home the old mezzanine level has been refurbished and is now a useful storage area what you've done with this space is just lovely and you think what it was like before they say kind of workshop standing on the exact spot where the inspection pit used to be is the table made out of the old Timbers and the reconditioned steel workbench fits right in with its new role as a kitchen minute the kitchen look at that what a beast over kitchen man is I just love the honesty with it all I mean you're running a bit of Conger it down you know against the timber putting a sock at there very functional because you need that for the kitchen prep but it just works that balance of the old with the new and the functional is brilliant from being a single space the mill has now been split into three levels recycled again recycled blanks this is the bit of being waiting for the stunning first-floor living room is an open-plan space which allows you to appreciate the beauty of the original [Music] it really is a lovely room isn't it we just wanted it simple didn't mean we didn't want to say I love the temples I mean always did but to leave all of them in place and just leave them exposed through three days by hand with his knife scraper Hoover brush I even had to wear a special mask because there was a lot of silica dust the fling dust on them really low just an inch thick the metal entender staircase leads up to the attic where they have a very quaint bathroom master bedroom mind your head Jules I've got a Crouch in their loft rooms rooms took right in at the top on my favorite rooms really my sound is totally different in a roof room Nick in here the wood expanding and cracking yes that's the thing with a tall building like this is it's just kind of breathing and twisting and moving a little bit all the time and it'll just settle after a while because if you think about it this building's been knocked about a bit by you guys to save it there is no doubt that the old mill has been saved and the near extension complements it perfectly leading of the hole on the ground floor there's a bright functional office the pivot on the first wall is an elegant and spacious guest bedroom outside we're a muddy bank once threatened to push the only over there's an attractive terrace garden the old big water channel cluttered Mills has been turfed over with a mushroom war there was never any doubt that Alan and Dora were going to do a fantastic job with this restoration but at what cost the budget has dogged this build from the start how much did you spend in the end well if I said that my original the truth come on my original contingency with temps in I forgot a naught it should have been 100 percent a hundred percent contingency 175 to 350 I would double the cost you like a find and with 175 thousand quid we may have ended up with a better house but we still had to find that money and that was a struggle I'm mentally physically and financially exhausted the tank is empty but we've put down it I've done already determined to stay mortgage free Alan and Dora were forced to raid their pension pots to find the last 50,000 pounds to finish the work included in the purchase price the mill has cost them and I watering 450,000 pounds for the past two years everything has taken second place to the restoration so to celebrate err this truly mammoth project they're joined by family and friends [Applause] [Music] my back it's Oh remember that it's looking all sudden neglected and then just I am just now Edgewood here lift the top of her for this specially now a great British present to congratulate Allen Endora and breathing new life in the stones historical funeral handmade by Emma Bridgewater and George Clark thank you George it must be really difficult for someone like Allen a professional building surveyor to take on a project like this why because when you're seduced by such a beautiful but derelict building like this was your heart begins to overrule your head you fall in love with the building so much you may as well throw the rulebook out of the window and that's why Allen and Dora went so massively over budget has it been worth it absolutely because without people like that beautiful buildings like this wouldn't survive [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Banijay History

Views: 260,948

Keywords: history, facts, interesting, documentary, history documentary, documentary history, history channel, ancient, world history, full documentary, top documentaries, documentaire, documental, documentary film, free documentary, full length documentaries, documentaries, factual, documentary full, restoration, restoration man, george clarke, abandoned, abandoned places, flint, flint mill

Id: bHXzVrQLaDc

Length: 46min 32sec (2792 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 20 2020