Volunteers raise the roof for Alderney water mill topping out
AFTER more than 20 years of work on Alderney's 13th century water mill, some volunteers admitted that they thought they would never see the day that the roof went on.
But history was made when members of the Alderney Society participated in a topping-out ceremony, when a pine branch was hoisted to the newly-carved roof beams.
The mill, on the Bonterre close to Tourgis Hill, was built prior to 1204. Its existence was chronicled in a document in 1232 – making it the oldest documented building in Alderney.
Work to restore it began in 1996, the mill, millpond and adjacent land having being given to the Alderney Society by the Impey family in 1972.
The first job was to clear the derelict and overgrown valley. Volunteers met every Tuesday morning and progress was slow.
'The mill was in ruins but more or less intact,' said the then Alderney Society president David Thornburrow.
'But it sat within a jungle. We used to move forward by about a metre a week.
Society members gathered at the site to watch the topping out ceremony and enjoy a celebratory barbecue.
'It's a proud day,' said Mr Thornburrow. 'A year ago I didn't think I would ever see a roof on it – I thought that would be for others to see.'
