Following our visit to the Farfield Mill, we reviewed our visit with the aid of slides and looked more closely into where it was located, what it did, how it worked and who worked there, especially regarding the children who would have worked and lived near the Mill. We talked about how it was powered and how water from the nearby river had been diverted down a channel to make the water wheels turn.

We focused on the machinery and especially the water wheels that provided the energy to power the machines. Also the wheels used for spinning the wool and pulley wheels. We then designed our own artwork inspired by what we had seen and learned about the Mill.

Starting with drawing circles of different sizes, within these we created our own individual responses to our visit. Some show the water, the mountains, the workers – even a large fire that had partly destroyed the Mill. 

Symbolic circles


Drawings depict the fire and the unhappiness of the workers


 The wheels were then cut out and gathered together to produce large collage depictions of machinery inspired by the Mill.  One of the three examples shown below.





 Others designed and sketched their own mill, either working on their own or with others. At the end of our session, we were able to explain and share what we had achieved with each other. 











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