About 75 people turned out on April 28 for a tour to see the refurbished Northover Mill and progress inside the listed Baily tannery buildings.

  Planning students from the University of the West of England were on hand to show ideas for affordable housing along the Millstream bank. With match-funding from the Heritage Lottery, this would be a way of financing repair of the old stone tannery and glove factory. “They were encouraged by the people who came and the many questions that were asked,” John Brunsdon reported.

  Centuries ago there was a millpond on the proposed housing site, the Beckery Island Regeneration Trust (Birt) discovered — it powered the Abbey’s corn mill. This pond was behind where the Baily canteen stood: between the chapel-like house (now gone) and the main Baily building.

  Drawings and plans were on display to show the workshops and studio spaces the trust proposes for the 19th-century Baily buildings — a “business nursery” to stimulate local employment. Birt estimates the cost of full renovation will be just under £5 million. So far the trust has waterproofed the roof, shored up the foundations and secured the buildings, as well as remodelling the millstream.

  A prospective tenant is already interested in Baily’s East — the building nearest the tall chimney — when it is renovated.

  Northover Mill was once the Abbey’s fulling mill (cleansing and thickening woollen cloth; in some regions a fuller was known as a tucker). The renovated building is ready to become offices and is now waiting for a tenant. Its plumbing and heating and lighting were complete on the tour day and it was ready for painting.

  “Everybody was impressed at the size of the mill cottage and the lightness and airiness of it,” said Ian Tucker, chairman of the trust. “I think we changed perceptions of it.”