The Mill On The Move

Before compulsory safety helmets , workers carefully dismantle a historic watermill and move it to a new museum location

Threatened by the drowning of the valley for a reservoir, Alton Water Mill at Stutton, Suffolk was carefully dismantled, moved and reconstructed at the Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket. Every piece of building and equipment was numbered and reassembled as before - did the ghosts move too? Peter Tuddenham narrates the story of this extraordinary 20 month project, filmed by Anglia Television for their "Time Was" series.

The Alton Valley in Suffolk was dammed and flooded in 1978 creating a reservoir to meet high water demand in this more densely populated area of Suffolk covering Stowmarket, Ipswich and Felixstowe. The watermill was moved from its pictureque rural setting to the Museum of East Anglian Life as a working exhibit. Historian and industrial archaeologist Rex Wailes describes the significant features of this mill.