The Grade II Listed building, once part of Cockhill Farm, was within the boundary of Breedon’s Holme Hall Quarry.  It once housed a ‘Gin Race’, a large wheel to which a horse was tethered. As the horse walked in a circle, the wheel rotated and operated a cog that turned a drum to provide power to a threshing machine. The word gin comes from ‘engine’.

The Holme Hall Quarry team has managed the deconstruction of the derelict building, the transportation of it, and the sensitive reconstruction of it at the Museum.  The stunning new building was officially opened by the Mayor of Edlington, Councillor Joan Briggs and Councillor Dave Taylor, the Lord Mayor of York.

Councillor Joan Briggs said: “It was a pleasure to be invited to be part of the opening event for such a positive project.  The Gin Race is unrecognizable from the derelict structure we saw at Holme Hall Quarry some months ago.  I would like to commend Breedon on their investment and the efforts that went in to this sensitive reconstruction.   We are proud to see this little piece of Old Edlington preserved forever to such a high standard for so many people to see.”

Breedon’s Holme Hall Quarry Manager Richard Matthewman adds: “The architects Andrew Shepherd and associates, and expert builders UK Restoration Services did an amazing job in recreating this valuable historical feature.   We are very proud to have been involved in this project – respecting the local agricultural heritage of the Edlington area; and at the same time providing the Yorkshire Museum of Farming with a boost in the form of an additional historic and fantastic space to use for visitors.”

The restored Gin Race building is now being used as a space in which visitors to the museum can learn about agricultural mechanisation in bygone times.  For more information, visit www.murtonpark.co.uk.