COLDHARBOUR Mill Trust at Uffculme is looking for more volunteers.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of the mill and inspire visitors with their motivation and energy.

The trust’s primary objective is the preservation of the mill for the public benefit. The site is of national historic and architectural importance and plays a key role in the advancement of public education in the woollen industry.

As a nationally important heritage site, it is vital that the mill is preserved and protected as this will ensure that the machinery, processes and traditional artisan skills, with life-long learning, is supported as may otherwise be lost.

Coldharbour Mill Working Wool Museum, built between 1797-99 as the first spinning mill in the South- West, preserves a collection of Victorian spinning frames for the worsted process.

The Hattersley looms are still in use to weave knitting yarns, tartan cloth, rugs and stair runners. The 1821 Breast-Shot Waterwheel has been restored to working condition, and the 19th Century steam engines and Lancashire boilers can be viewed in their original location.

The Mill has been in continuous production since 1797 and opened as a working museum in 1982. It is a rare surviving example of Georgian architecture, industry and enterprise.

English Heritage wrote a historic buildings report about the mill complex and described the site as ‘probably one of the best-preserved textile mill complexes in the country’.

It retains the full range of buildings and power system features which characterised the development of the 19th Century textile mill with much of the machinery that was used at the site in the 20th Century.