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| Sawmill |
As a settlement Batsto can trace its history back to 1766, though there is some evidence of people who lived in the area much earlier. Being situated in woodlands, an early and always crucial element was timber and Batsto has had a sawmill for almost as long as the settlement has been in existence.
The mill was initially water-powered, with the damming of the Batsto river to form a lake, but in 1882 the owner, Joseph Warton, modernised the mill and installed a turbine powered saw which is still used today. The sawmill is no longer the profitable enterprise it was in Wharton's time, but is still used locally to provide timber for the upkeep of the village buildings.
Today Batsto village is a visitor attraction and no longer has residents, the last left in 1989. The sawmill operators provide demonstrations to scholars and the general public.Photographs taken 10th of September 2001, these were some of the last I shot on film.
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