The Mill is run as a Museum together with the Museum of Papermaking on the one site, on the bank of the River Bela opposite the paper factory of Henry Cooke Ltd (click here for an area map).
It is run by a registered charity by the Heron Corn Mill-Beetham Trust.
Entry to the site is signed from the A6 one mile south of Milnthorpe, or six miles north of Exit 35 of the M6, as shown on the local map).

Wainwright's drawing, (click for larger picture)

The Mill and Museum are open to visitors at the following times :

The present mill building dates from 1740's, and all the internal machinery is powered by a 14 ft diameter high breast shot water wheel. Some of the machinery dates from the mid nineteenth century. This includes the main shaft, pit wheel and wallower. Other parts are thought to be contemporary with the building, others are as modern as the late 1930's. The mill contains three floors, entry is on the middle floor which houses the four pairs of mill stones raised on a "lowder frame" The lower floor houses the main drive, including the water wheel. The wheel can also be viewed form the middle floor through a glass panel. The upper floor, previously used for grain storage, now forms a display area. There is a gallery devoted to the "History of Baking" All round the two upper floor and on the staircase are panels forming the "900 Year" exhibition, which celebrates the 900 years of milling on the site . Various ancillary machines are on show on the lower two floors.

The Museum of Papermaking is housed in the converted "Carter's Barn", between the car park and the Mill itself. It was created by the Trust, in 1988, to comemortate 400 years of paper making in Britain.

The Mill, (click for larger picture)

The Barn is of 18th Century construction, and still retains the "pegged" roof structure of an earlier age. In the museum the Trust have attempted to show the production of paper from the earliest time in China, to the modern high speed production machinery used in Henry Cooke's factory opposite the musuem. There are diagrams, text panels and three dimensional artefacts, with which the history and the modern methods used in the process, are explained.

In the Mill, the milling process is explained and demonstrated. Cereal products are on sale, as well as small gifts, including sheets of hand made paper made in the Museum. Occasional demonstrations of the hand making of paper are mounted, mainly on "special days" or to groups of pre-booked visitors.

The Mill is dependent on the income from visitors, donations and grants from various sources.

For further details please contact :