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The other site is on Mill
Island (above) where the old Nantwich Mill once stood. For the record,
this would be the one that I would favour. Both schemes have the support of prominent
Nantwich people.
The picture on the left, above, is looking towards the Waterlode
and
High Street while the one above right is looking from the Waterlode over
the river to the old mill site. This area (in the centre of the picture,
behind the tree) is the part of the island where one suggestion would
place the new building.
There would still be plenty of space on Mill Island for the Sealed Knot
to re-enact the Battle of Nantwich every January.
In passing, pictured on the right is the old mill race which used to
be an overflow channel through the mill when the water inlet for the
motive power was closed - that is, not being used. It is taken looking towards the town
bridge, with the Waterlode on the right. You can hardly see the town
bridge in the distance for the willow trees, so I don't think any
suggestion that a new building would spoil the view from the bridge
- should it ever be put forward as an objection - would hold water. The
old mill site is barely visible from the bridge these days. As I once wrote
in another letter on my website!
The reason the Mill Island site would get my vote is that it is near to
the town centre, at the bottom of Mill Street (although admittedly
across the Waterlode "inner ring road"; via
pedestrian-controlled traffic lights) while the baths area
is much further from the centre on foot and so might be less appealing for
visitors to go to. And at a guess, the Mill Island site is nearer to
Nantwich Square than the present Museum building in Pillory
Street.
But, would a building on the town bridge end of Mill Island look out of
place? I don't think so. (See the suggestions on the other
page.)
While the baths site is off a large car park, there is a car park off the Waterlode
and one
across the river on the old gas works site - although this is described
as "a potential development area" in the Nantwich Forum
scheme. There is a suggested footbridge across the river at this point,
so would a car park count as a "development." The town has
quite a number of car parks, although the fact that they always seem
full indicates we could do with more!
I think that most visitors
to the centre would walk there when they were already parked somewhere in town - rather
than making a point of going directly to the centre, from a nearby car
park, when they arrive in
town. Unless they knew the town well and were making a beeline for
the centre, they would park where they could and see what the town had
to offer.
One thought that did occur to me was that maybe there could be a museum annexe
in the new visitors' centre which could take the whole of the salt
ship and some other museum exhibits while the main collection stayed
put in the Pillory Street building. After all, the latest extension
there was built as recently as 2000. At the moment the salt ship has
been cut into three pieces for conservation (the tanks will not take it
in one piece) and there seems little chance of getting more than one
section in the present museum building. The annexe (I stress) is purely my own
idea - although others may have had a similar idea.
It has been suggested that the project could be up and running in 10
years' time. I would have thought a lot quicker than that if the
enthusiasm being shown currently was converted into action and the money
was available. But where would we be in the queue for cash, I wonder.
I am too
long in the tooth to expect that there will not be prolonged discussions
before anything actually happens.
However, let's hope Alderman Butterill is right when he said (in the
Chronicle): "I firmly believe the scheme will get off the ground
and will be a huge boost to Nantwich and its tourism industry."
Hear, hear.
l If
you have any thoughts on the above ideas, e-mail them to me. I will use
them on this website and make sure that the people who matter get to
know of them as well.
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