A YORKSHIRE Dales mill is once again generating its own electricity, marking the end of a four-year £1m restoration programme.

Gayle Mill, near Hawes, is a grade II-listed building built in 1784-5 as a water-powered cotton mill that also processed flax and wool. It was reborn as a sawmill in 1878 and is now a scheduled ancient monument.

The waterwheel was removed in 1878 and replaced with a Thomson double-vortex turbine, which generated 11.2kw of power that drove a range of woodworking machinery by a series of belts and pulleys off a central line-shaft.

In 1915, the Hawes Electric Company was founded and leased part of the mill and turbine for its own generator; in 1925, a secondary turbine was put in to create greater capacity.

The turbine continued to supply the power for the woodworking machinery until the business closed in 1988.

Regaining the ability to produce its own electricity was the final piece of the jigsaw needed to complete the restoration of the mill, which was runner up in the BBC's Restoration TV series in 2004.

The delay in getting the modern turbine fully operational was largely due to the need to install a new vane actuator, which automatically controls the amount of energy created, dependent upon water flow. The new turbine is capable of generating an average of about 8.5kw of power.

Paul Bisson, manager at Gayle Mill, said: "We are delighted that at last the whole power generation system is fully functional. Not only are we self-sufficient in green energy production, but we are feeding the surplus we do not use at the mill back into the national grid and so earning some income from that."

Chairman of Gayle Mill Trust, William Lambert, said: "The most important thing was to maximise the header tank pressure, so we spent a week during the summer building up the sides of the wooden section of the leat and this has really helped to increase the power the mill can generate."

The mill has been running guided tours for visitors to learn about its past and see the historic machinery back in working order. Since Easter, it has had more than 5,000 visitors.

Mr Bisson said it had been a steep learning curve for mill staff, who have been taught a thing or two by the visitors themselves.

He said: "One of the most wonderful things for us has been to discover visitors' own memories of the mill, stretching back in some cases over 60 years, to when it was used for secret war work in the preparations for the D-Day landings."

On November 29, the mill will hold a Christmas fair where it will sell traditional gifts crafted from its own sustainable timber. There will also be refreshments and seasonal activities for families. For more information, call Gayle Mill on 01969-667320 or visit www.gaylemill.org.