Caring for their future: Recording, Repairing, & Researching Mills

Date: -

Address: 44 Watlington Street, Reading, RG1 4RJ

Audience: General interest

Price:

£50 SPAB Members (packed lunch included in event fees)
£55 Non-Members (packed lunch included in event fees)

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Event details

Caring for their future: Recording, Repairing, & Researching Mills

Saturday 13 June 2026, 10am – 4.15pm

Watlington Hall, 44 Watlington Street, Reading RG1 4RJ

The conference will focus on the maintenance, repair and monitoring of mills and how to create, preserve and display documents.

Mildred Cookson and Nathanael Hodge from the Mills Archive Trust, will share their knowledge on caring for documents and images. Dr Toby Huitson and Duncan McCallum will explore the Mills at Risk theme and the intricacies of listing historic buildings. Dr. Michael Nevell will present the Industrial Heritage Support Project.We will also hear from Millwright Paul Sellwood about the maintenance and repair of mills.

Additional speakers and information and a detailed programme will be published shortly.

You will learn and discover

By the end of the course, you will know/understand/be able to: 

  • how to record and preserve documents

  • obtain an overview of mills at risk and mill listing

  • hear about challenges and receive advice about mill repairs and maintenance

  • find out information about the Industrial Heritage Support Project

Speaker Information

Mildred Cookson is a former miller and joined the SPAB Mills Section in 1976 and the Section Committee in 1984. She is particularly involved in working with millwrights; she also established the programme of one-day training courses and the Mill Repair Fund. She was previously a trustee of the SPAB and chairman of the Mills Section Committee, and is the editor of the Section’s magazine ‘Mill News’. She is also actively involved as a trustee of the Mills Archive Trust.

Nathanael Hodge has been Archivist of the Mills Archive Trust since 2016. In his role he is responsible for taking care of the Trust’s archival collections, making them available to the public in person and online, and ensuring the Archive adheres to professional standards and best practice.

Duncan McCallum, Chair of the SPAB, Duncan has almost 40 years of experience in the heritage sector. He studied planning and building conservation at Newcastle and York Universities and undertook a variety of heritage roles across England in local authorities. He joined English Heritage in 1996, later moving to Historic England. His final role there was as Strategy and Listing Director. He left in 2022 to devote his time to various heritage-related and other voluntary causes.

Dr Michael Nevell, FSA, MCIfA, is the Industrial Heritage Support Officer for England, at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. He has more than 35 years of experience as a field archaeologist, and taught undergraduates and post-graduates as a senior lecturer for 18 years at Manchester and Salford universities. A former Chair of the Association for Industrial Archaeology, he is the author of over 100 academic papers and books including the Archaeology of Ironbridge in 20 Digs (Amberley Publishing, 2023); the Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology (OUP 2022); The Archaeology of Manchester in 20 Digs (Amberley Publishing, 2020), and The Birth of an Industrial City: Glasgow and the Archaeology of the M74 (Society of Antiquaries Scotland 2016). He is President of the Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, edits the Association for Industrial Archaeology newsletter, ‘IA News’, and is the European Route of Industrial Heritage representative for England.

Accessibility

  • Ground floor access

  • Limited parking

How to get there

  • The address is Watlington Hall, 44 Watlington Street, Reading RG1 4RJ 

  • If you are travelling by train, the nearest station is Reading Station, which is around 15 minutes from Watlington Hall by bus or on foot

  • Parking is very limited, if you are planning to arrive by car, please send an email to millsinfo@spab.org.uk at least 14 days before the event 

Photos and filming: We may take photos or videos at this event to be used in future promotion, including in print and online. Participants may take photos and short videos for personal use, with permission of the course leader and all other participants in frame. If you want to post on social media, please message SPAB's Comms Team (press@spab.org.uk or @spab1877) for permission. If your material is good, we might ask to share it with our followers.

All bookings are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

Photo credit: Brampton Mill © James Innerdale