In the summer of 2018, Bath & North East Somerset council (B&NES) provided funding to dewater the upstream watercourses of Saltford Brass Mill (member of the Industrial Heritage Network South West) to enable inspection of the normally flooded structures and repair a penstock gate which had been deteriorating over a number of years. This was an opportune time as B&NES had recently acquired a laser scanning capability for the survey of structures in the city of Bath which they were able to deploy at Saltford. One of the Saltford Brass Mill Project (SBMP) volunteers also had access to an aerial drone capability, which combined with the laser-scan enabled a thorough survey of the mill to be conducted.
The upstream watercourses had not been dewatered in many years. This opportunity therefore enabled a full survey of the watercourses to be conducted and accurate measurements to be taken of the mill, both above and below ground, by a combination of conventional surveying, laser-scan and aerial scan by drone. An accurate 2D plan of the mill has been produced, drawing upon the 3D point-cloud model of the mill produced by the laser scan. Much potential exists for further analysis of the point-cloud model of the mill.
A report on the survey and repair is available on the SBMP website: http://brassmill.com/saltford_brass_mill_021.htm
Industrial Heritage Networks 