Grade II listed site on the canal at Stourton, closed since 2024, begins a 12-month community restoration with the public invited to shape what it becomes

Thwaite Mills, one of the best-preserved working watermills in Britain, has been taken over by four new owners who will restore it and reopen it as a working museum with a pub, cafe and canal-side beer garden.

Will Habergham, Terry George, Michael Rothwell and Kirk Allen have taken ownership of the Grade II listed site at Stourton and will begin a full restoration this week, more than two years after the mill closed to the public in April 2024.

The work is expected to take around 12 months and will be carried out alongside volunteers from Friends of Thwaite Mills, the supporters’ group the new owners are relaunching as part of the project. No reopening date has been set.

Early plans include reopening the mill as a working museum, a pub and cafe with canal-side seating, and fully landscaped grounds free for walkers, runners and dog walkers to use. A programme of free family events is planned, and the owners are exploring the return of the craft fairs and car boot sales the site was once known for. Longer term, they hope to add weddings, small music events and a beer garden.

“Thwaite Mills was saved by its community once before, and it’ll be brought back by its community now,” said Will Habergham, director of Thwaite Mills. “We’re not going to disappear for a year and come back with a ribbon to cut. We want people watching it happen, turning up, and telling us what they want this place to be.”

Built between 1823 and 1825, Thwaite Mills worked first as a flax mill and later produced whiting and paint, operating commercially until 1975, when a broken weir threatened its future. Local volunteers stepped in to save it the following year, and it opened as a museum in 1990, welcoming visitors until it closed in April 2024.

The relaunched Friends of Thwaite Mills is open to anyone, including former members of the original Thwaite Mills Society. Members will receive regular updates, be invited to volunteer days and have a direct hand in shaping the mill’s next chapter. The restoration will be documented as it happens through a social media diary rather than held back for a single announcement.

Members of the public can find out more, sign up as a Friend of Thwaite Mills and follow the restoration diary at www.thwaitemills.com and on social media at @thwaitemills.

Thwaite Mills’ new owners Will and Terry

You can read a history of the mills in two parts by Ken Burton here and here.

This post is based on a press release issued by Thwaite Mills

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