Offering a modern face to the traditional skills of Millwrighting, Smithdales understand the importance of planned maintenance and delivery, the Millwright working with the owner rather than just for them, and having true empathy with both mill and owner.

Contemporary Millwrighting

Wether water or wind powered, these machines were developed and designed to have a finite but active life, maintained on a daily basis by the miller.

All surviving mills have exceeded their planned lives and here lies the problem faced by owners today.

The need for maintenance

To help owners and caretakers of heritage mills to keep their charges in sound and empathic repair by:

Employing the optimum of skills and materials, both traditional and contemporary.
Emphasising the importance of Maintenance Schedules.
Maintaining transparency in quotations of specified works and potential additional works.
Developing long term relationships with trusted clients and partners.

Having operated a heritage site producing 30+ tons of flours a year, we are very aware of the unique problems facing traditional millers and are able to practically advise or train staff as well as construct, maintain and advise on milling equipment and machinery.

Working mills

In more recent years Millwrighting has been notorious for extra and hidden costs, delays and complications. It isn’t always possible to predict all that is required before work commences, but we believe honesty is the key to this problem.

A new approach to Mill work

Our Mission Statement

For many centuries wind and water mills were the powerhouses for food production, land drainage and much of the industry in this country.

Superceded first by steam and then oil engines, these magnificent old machines are at the heart of our heritage.

Many have been lost, some preserved and others have been converted, but all which remain demand maintenance to avoid their loss through cost or decay, and in the case of those which are listed, these demands can be considerable.