TURBINES off the Walney coast provide power using technology our ancestors could not imagine but the winds across Morecambe Bay have been harnessed for energy across the centuries.

It is thought that windmills on Walney date back to the 1550s, with the first being where the modern Mill Lane starts.

This mill fell out of use by the early 18th century.

The North Scale Mill lasted long enough to feature on photographs.

It would have been built in the early 1800s and was probably last used on a commercial basis around 1860.

The North Scale mill was demolished in 1940 to make way for RAF Walney.

Looking back 25 years, it was gas which led the way in Morecambe Bay power supplies.

An article in the Evening Mail on July 14 in 1992 described work to take gas supplies through a buried pipeline across the Duddon Estuary.

It noted: “The three miles of sand dividing Millon and Askam is being linked by a new pipeline taking gas from Morecambe Bay rigs to a new power station being built at Sellafield.

“Pipe-laying across the Duddon Estuary is one of the major construction feats involved in taking the gas supply from Furness through Millom and West Cumbria.

“Dozens of smaller-scale sites have been opened by contractors to take the pipe through farmland and under roads.”

A similar project, but for electricity cables is currently underway to link up with the Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm.

Drivers on the new Bay Gateway can see a large electricity sub-station near Heysham and contractors are busy on the landfall site for the turbines on the salt marsh at Middleton sands, off Carr Lane and close to the twin buildings of the Heysham nuclear power station.

When operational, Walney Extension is expected to be the world’s largest offshore wind far.

The Dong Energy site is expected to generate 660MW of electricity, enough to power 590,000 homes. You can find out more on the website at www.walneyextension.co.uk