Apples at the Mill

There is a close bond between mills and apples, or rather apple wood.  At Stretton, the ancient machinery of the overshot wheels gears is hewn from sturdy oak.  A whole oak trunk forms the stout shaft, still strong after centuries, despite the shakes and cracks along its length.  The great spur wheel and crown wheel are likewise shaped from the powerful oak.  That's just what you need in the wood for such a task, strength and resilience.  But it's different with the teeth of the gear wheels.  Use oak there and the wood will get worn as the wheels mesh together and oak is so strong that if an obstruction falls into the gears the whole wheel will break.  What is needed is a wood that won't wear as the wheel turns and yet will shear off cleanly when meeting an obstacle and avoid further damage.  Apple wood is perfect, and so apple trees will often be found alongside watermills, for the miller to make replacements for the teeth of the gear wheels.

When Stretton Watermill was restored as a museum in the 1970s, apple trees were planted on the plot of the land where the Gregory family of millers had grown potatoes.  They have born fruit ever since, though these trees have gradually died off over the decades and only one of these remains.  They've been replaced with new trees, using old Cheshire varieties such as Wareham Russet and Millicent Barnes.  Apple trees in the garden of the former miller's cottage, just across Mill Lane, still bear a bountiful harvest and we enjoy the juice from these each autumn.

This coming January, we will be wassailing the apple trees of the mill.  Pouring cider around the roots, hanging toast in the branches for the birds and making loud noises against the witches.  So, at Old New Year, on Saturday 14th January 2012, join us at the mill at 4 o'clock as dusk falls for music, storytelling, mulled cider and wassailing as we enact an ancient tradition to protect the apple trees for the coming year.