Worsbrough Mill

Year | 2024

Location | Worsbrough Mill, Barnsley

Client | Barnsley Museums

University of Sheffield students work with Barnsley Museums and members of the public to imagine potential futures for Worsbrough Mill ahead of its 400th anniversary.

Whilst Worsbrough Mill and Country Park has been a staple in the lives of local residents, few realise the historic impact this building has had on the area, with references to milling in the area dating back to the domesday book.

With its anniversary approaching, Barnsley Museums, as part of a package of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, partnered with students from the University of Sheffield to help imagine the potential futures of the historic site.

The Sheffield University Live Projects programme airs Architecture Masters students with real community projects both regionally and nationally, allowing them to develop their skills in social design whilst benefiting real clients.

As part of this project, the students developed a mechanism of outreach to help Barnsley Museums better engage with the community, strengthening social ties between the Mill and its surroundings, before drawing on these relationships to help suggest possible future development.

With the Mill currently out of action due to a damaged upright shaft, the students have reinterpreted its spirit into a musical mill, using the mechanical rotation of a waterwheel to trigger a series of instruments. Local community members were encouraged to paint the water wheel to make it their own.

'The Music Mill' hopes to intrigue people, encouraging them to interact with Worsbrough Mill and learn about sustainable energy from the technology of the past. Through this increased outreach, members of the public are continuing to inform the future development of Worsbrough Mill and Country Park by sharing their thoughts and ideas through a co-design game, using a scale model of the site.

“Through this mechanism of engagement, we hope that future developments of the Mill site will involve local people and go on to form a social hub for teaching industrial heritage side by side with the future of sustainable energy.”

Worsbrough Mill Live Project team, University of Sheffield

Credits

Student Team: 

Tamilla Ahmadli, Skye Codell, Emily Ridings, Samuel Tilbrook, Sumaiyah Bashir, Ruby Doherty, Owais Abid, Hanna Radwanska, James Taylor, Prabhat Chhabra, Kiranbhai Patel Bhowmi.

Mentor:

Tanzil Shafique