Settling Tanks
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Settling Tanks for Lintzford Mill
Lintzford Mill was built in 1692 as a corn mill. The River Derwent provided the power to drive the mill wheel which in turn drove the grind-stones which ground the corn.
In 1785 the mill was converted to a paper mill. Paper was made here for over one hundred years, until 1923 when the mill was converted to become an ink works. The ink works ceased production in 1987 and the mill buildings were converted into private residences.
There were several paper mills in the Derwent Valley in the 18th and 19th centuries. The settlings tanks were first built here around 1800 to supplement the supply of clean water to the paper mill at Lintzford. Most of the paper mills in County Durham made brown paper, but relatively good quality paper was made at Lintzford. This needed clean water which was in short supply in hot summers.
Activity
Look at the three photographs of the tanks. The photographs show the tanks as they are today. Some of the original stones were replaced with bricks during the the late 19th century, when the tanks were used by Victoria Garesfield colliery to cool water coming from the mine, when the tanks were no longer used by the paper mill.
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| Photographs courtesy of Paul Fountain | ||
- In the photographs, can you identify:
- the three tanks
- the stream (the Pallis Burn) that flows pass the tanks
- the sluice gate
- the mushroom shaped pipe in the third tank
- How do you think the settling tanks worked? How did the water get cleaner?
Activity Answers
The sluice gate allowed the water from the stream (the Pallis Burn) to enter the first tank.
The deposits in the water dropped to the bottom of the tank.
The cleaner water at the top of the tank spilled over the low wall into the next tank.
This tank then filled until eventually the water passed into the third tank.
From here the clean water was drawn off through the mushroom shaped pipe to be stored.
Most of the water was stored in the two reservoirs on the edge of the wood near here
