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Gayle Mill was built in 1784 as a watermill for spinning cotton, following Richard Arkwright's principles, but was converted quite soon thereafter to spinning flax and then wool for the local knitting industry.

In 1879 the mill was modernised, with the wheel replaced by a Thomson-design double-vortex turbine manufactured by Williamsons of Kendal, and was converted to a sawmill.

A second turbine was installed around 1900 to provide electric lighting and a third in the 1920s by the Hawes Electric Company to provide electricity to the village.

This is the condition in which the mill has been revived in 2008 as a conservation project, with much of the original machinery still operable. The mill is run by a trust and still provides sawmill services on a commercial basis. Workshops for a variety of craft skills, not exclusively timber based are also organised.

The mill itself is Listed Grade II*.

The penstock/launder feeding water to the mill dates back to the construction of the mill, and is partly of stone, partly a timber channel supported on stone piers. It is Listed Grade II separately from the mill.

The mill, penstock and mill pond (above Gayle bridge) are also designated as a Scheduled Monument.


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