VISITORS to Coldharbour Mill on New Year’s Day (Monday) will be stepping back in time at the first Steam Day of 2018.

They will see how steam and water revolutionised yarn and cloth production in the Culm Valley, and how Coldharbour Mill was central to bringing the industrial revolution to the South-West, producing yarn for fabrics that were exported all over the world for 200 years.

The Lancashire boiler will be producing the steam used to run one of the finest collections of steam-powered mill engines in the country, including an 1867 Kittoe and Brotherhood Beam engine, one of the last mill engines in regular use, still going strong after 150 years. The waterwheel will also be running.

Coldharbour Mill is a few minutes’ drive from Junction 27 of the M5, near Willand – follow the brown signs to Working Wool Museum. The Steam Day gets under way at 10.30am.