A 185-year-old mill could once more become a source of renewable energy, almost a century after shutting down.

Vital restoration work is taking place at Higherford Mill, which is thought to have ceased life as a water-powered cotton spinning mill in 1914.

Representatives of the British Trust for Conserv-ation Volunteers (BTCV) have been strimming an overgrown area so that the bottom of two sluices are visible.

And now more work is planned to clear vegetation at the bottom of the sluices to allow water to flow down to the mill.

It is hoped this work will protect against flooding and pave the way for the replace-ment of the waterwheel and mill races to bring the mill back to life.

However, while staff from the Heritage Trust North West (HTNW), which owns the landmark site, said reinstating the waterwheel was the “ultimate goal” they expected it to be “quite some time” before the dream became a reality.

The two sluices connect together before they enter the mill. One of them serves as an important overflow in times of heavy rain.

The charity workers were asked to undertake the work by HTNW.

The area behind the mill is accessed by a public foot-path, which had become overgrown with nettles.

According to BTCV, small parts of the sluices were visible, although the major-ity of them were hidden under a thick growth of brambles, trees and nettles.

One day was spent using a brush cutter, strimming and raking to find the edges of the sluices, so that hazard warning tape could be put up.

A second day of work revealed an area of the sluice where access could be gained.

Fay Oldland, administ-rator at HTNW, said reinstating the waterwheel would be “very much in the future.”

She said: “It is a very costly project and a case of getting funding for it.

“What we have been doing is restoring different parts of the mill, but I would hate people to think reinstating the waterwheel, although it is our dream, is going to happen in the next month. It is our ultimate goal.”

Higherford Mill was built by Christopher Grimshaw in 1824. It was saved from demolition and bought by HTNW in 1999.