New funding paves way for repairs to historic site

Historic England is providing a grant to repair the furnace bridge house

New funding means one of Britain's oldest industrial heritage sites can have much-needed repairs.

Historic England has awarded £163,812 to the Forest of Dean Buildings Preservation Trust to repair Gunns Mill furnace in Gloucestershire.

It is the only surviving bridge house for a furnace of this type, and dates back to the 17th Century.

Kate Biggs of trust, said: "This is major progress in the journey of this building and would mean that we could remove some of the scaffolding, after over 20 years!"

The mill was used for creating wool and also paper

The grant will allow the timber frame of the roof of the bridge house, near Littledean, to be fixed.

The lower tier of the mill dates back to 1625 and was used for fulling - otherwise known as felting - which is a process in the production of woollen cloth.

The site, which is Grade II listed, was destroyed in the English Civil War but rebuilt by 1682.

In 1741, local business owner Joseph Lloyd turned Gunns Mill into a paper mill, and by the late 19th Century it became a cattle shed.

William Parker bought the mill in 1994 to prevent it being developed for property, and donated it to the Forest of Dean Buildings Preservation Trust in 2013.