In 2013, Blushful Earth obtained a grant for £500 from the Wakeham Trust and then obtained a further £10,000 grant from The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 in December 2014 to undertake research on, and to help preserve, the Victorian breastshot wheel at Castleford Mill.

We completed historical audits of the wheel, and its component parts. We have also completed research on the history of both Castleford Mill, and its partner mill which was of equal size and existed on the opposite bank of the River Aire until the mid-1800s.

Blushful Earth worked with The Canal and River Trust to design and purchase stop logs for upstream installation to protect the wheel.

We have now left the project.

Reports and public engagement on the engineering aspects of vertical water wheel design based on the work of John Smeaton and Sir William Fairbairn Bart., to follow. See Publications and Awards and Teaching and Training.