Gayle Mill is to develop its role in demonstrating decarbonising historic buildings, thanks to a grant from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and support from Historic England.

The income - £6,000 from the Park’s Sustainable Development Fund and £1,000 from Historic England will help towards enabling Cultura Trust to undertake an audit of the mill’s carbon footprint and identify ways it can be improved. The project will include public talks on how historic 
buildings around the Dales can contribute to the COP26 response to climate action.

Graham Bell, Director of Cultura, explained that the timing of the initiative couldn’t be better: ‘concerns about climate change often feel quite remote; we see changes in the weather in the Dales but can’t see how we can help make things better. Historic buildings can be seen as out of date – cold and damp, costly to heat. How can we square the circle of keeping the special character of the Dales but do our bit? By doing a test study on the 
mill, which has been at the forefront of renewable energy since 1784, we can find out.’

Cultura’s manager of the mill, Stuart Parsons, is particularly keen to share lessons learned: ‘successive generations of people have made this mill special in the lives and economy of the upper Dales. Maintaining sustainability with the environment is a tradition we need to keep up more than ever, so where better to show it than here.’

The study and talks will take place up to Easter and are part of Cultura’s programme of public activities based at Gayle Mill, supported by the Peter Sowerby Foundation.