The picturesque Gloucestershire mill that has quite a history to tell

This weekend (Saturday May 11 and Sunday May 12) is National Mills Weekend, an opportunity to celebrate milling heritage and give people the chance to visit historic mills.

Until the advent of the steam engine, wind and watermills provided the only source of power for many different processes – from making flour, paper, cloth to hammering metal and extracting oils. Most mills you can still explore and in Gloucestershire we are blessed to have a part of the county that has quite a few mills - Stroud.

The Stroudwater Textile Trust is an organisation run by people in and around Stroud who have a keen interest in promoting the awareness of the woollen industry in the Stroud valleys and to celebrate contemporary textiles

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Running the impressive waterwheel at their flagship museum at Dunkirk Mill near Nailsworth, the Charitable trust are the go to community to learn about Stroud's proud industrial past.

One such mill that is both picturesque and historical is St Mary's Mill in Chalford. Ian Mackintosh as a trustee with the Textile Trust knows the history of the mill very well with old photographs showing just how impressive the mill is today. Retaining an imposing but static water wheel, inside St Mary's has a Tangye steam engine, which was working until the 1960s and is now powered by electricity.

Some historic pictures of St Mary's Mill, Chalford

Thought to be the largest of its type in its original position, Ian said: "There's been a mill on the site since the 1300s at least but the present mill we see today was constructed in the 1820s and restored by the family of the owners in the 1960s. As a cloth mill it was the major product at the time from the Stroud valleys and the mill is very important for the area's history."

On Mills Weekend itself, the identity milling gave to the Stroud valleys and its history is important. Today Stroud is still a place of innovation and creativity in Gloucestershire. Ian adds: "Mills like St Mary's brought prosperity to the town and shaped other towns that have grown along the river valleys. Chalford itself grew to be a major cloth production are and St Mary's is one of the last in the area. Preserving our mills and our industrial history matters a lot."