The Early Years 1485 - 1625

The ASHA Centre - A New Millennium

The earliest mention of Gunn Mill House, now the ASHA Centre, dates from more than five hundred years ago. In 1485 Thomas Cun was granted the rent from a watermill called le Newmyll, in the Royal Forest of Dean, to be paid by the Abbot of St Mary, Flaxley.

In the mid sixteenth century the mill was described as a corn mill, and in 1620 the property was identified as a mill of William Gunnes, anciently called Cune’s Mill. Gunn lived in Mitcheldean, which was then the largest of the four small centres of the woollen industry in the Royal Forest of Dean. The local trade was sufficient to support water powered fuelling, a process in woollen cloth-making, which involves the cleansing of the cloth. Thus, the mill moved from processing corn to wool.

The next reference to the mill comes with Sir John Winter’s iron furnace at Gunns Mills. Sir John, it would seem, had violated the boundaries of his land when building the furnace. He also used the King’s timber to run it and so was in trouble with the law. Fined £400 for building an iron furnace in the King’s Forest, Sir John was ordered to pull it down. Later pardoned, he continued to work the furnace.

As recorded in 1642, Cunnes Mill is, for the first time, named as Gunnes Mill. Two years later, during the Civil War, the iron works were confiscated and occupied by the Parliamentarians. Sir John did not regain his estates until after the Restoration of the Monarchy of King Charles II. The furnace was derelict by 1680 but was later rebuilt and changed hands several times. In 1730, the ironworks accounts show payment of forty-nine pounds and thirteen shillings for building a house at Gunsmills – the first reference to a dwelling on the site, which was to become the ASHA Centre.

After the furnace was no longer in use, the property was let to the papermaker, Joseph Lloyd, who started building a paper mill in 1738 and then a corn mill, although the latter was not used commercially. By the 1830s another building had been constructed adjacent to the corn mill and both were described as washing mills. One of Joseph Lloyd’s employees was the papermaker, John Smith. His daughter, Catherine, who started her working life on a local farm, joined her father at the mill at the age of nineteen. Although she had very little formal education, she wrote a great deal of poetry. Friends persuaded her to have her work published and helped raise the necessary finance. A volume of Catherine’s work was published locally in Coleford in 1841. It was entitled ‘A Collection of Poems on the Forest of Dean and its Neighbourhood’ and the publisher’s preface describes the poems as ‘the pure offspring of native talent, and the production of a woman, who, had her education been equal to her mental endowments, would have ranked amongst the leading literates of the day, and her name descended to posterity with those of the most distinguished of British poets.’ Catherine had six children, lived to be eighty-two and is buried in the churchyard of St. John’s in Cinderford.

Local Poet–Catherine Drew

Modern Times

The mills underwent many changes over the years, with some buildings falling into disrepair and others being added. Today, the furnace, which was later converted into a paper mill, still stands, just below the house, although the ASHA Centre does not own it. It is considered the best-preserved charcoal blast furnace in Britain but is in urgent need of restoration. 

The house, now the ASHA Centre, has also gone through many changes. Photographs taken in the early 1900s show the house to be three storeys high, but the top floor was taken down in 1921, without removing the roof – some feat! During the Second World War, the Gallery, now the Conference Hall for the ASHA Centre, was used as a dairy to make butter and cheese for the war effort. The Cider Press, surprisingly, produced cider, before it became derelict and was used as a cowshed. Today, it has been rebuilt in the old style and with traditional stone as a home for ASHA’s young volunteers. 

The main house has been owned by numerous families throughout the twentieth century, the Barrington, the Beard family and in the early 1990s, David and Caroline Anderson, opened a bed and breakfast, starting with two bedrooms inside the house, and then converting the outbuilding to self-catering chalets. The suites names – Bailey, Connery, Russell, Schofield, Ustinov, Van Damme – stem from the owners’ careers in the film industry, and the big names they worked with. Caroline was the location manager for ‘Chariots of Fire’, while David worked on the first two Bond films, ‘Dr. No’ and ‘From Russia with Love’, as well as ‘The Deer Hunter’, ‘Paper Tiger’ and ‘Flash Gordon’. 

The subsequent owners, David and Rosie Lucas, were among the many farmers devastated by the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 1999 and so turned to a new business. They converted the last of the suites, the Attenborough, keeping the film industry theme, and adapting it for those with disabilities. They then returned to farming and Gunn Mill House became the ASHA Centre – new owners for the twenty-first century.

The History of The Asha Centre

The founder of the ASHA charity, Zerbanoo Gifford, had been looking for many years for the perfect spot to site the ASHA Centre. She had nearly given up hope of ever finding the ideal location. Then, out of the blue, friends called her and suggested she came and saw a place up for sale in the Royal Forest of Dean.  

Having never visited the Forest, Zerbanoo ventured forth. She was awe-struck by the majesty of the scenery. She understood why Tolkien had been enchanted by the Forest of Dean and inspired to write ‘Lord of the Rings’. She was not surprised to discover that J K Rowling had spent her youth in the area, enriching her imagination. There was magic in the air. A place to bring people together, a place of beauty and peace. Zerbanoo and her husband, Richard, a human rights lawyer, have restored the Georgian house with great care and an eye for beauty. 

Those who come to the ASHA Centre are not only visiting a historic building, but they are also enjoying the warmth of a loving home furnished with beautiful antique furniture from Richard and Zerbanoo’s previous home, Herga House on Harrow-on-the Hill. Zerbanoo’s exquisite Chinese embroideries also adorn the rooms of the ASHA Centre. The bedrooms have been renamed with famous English authors recognised the world over one of Britain’s greatest cultural legacies: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, Tolkien, CS Lewis, Thomas Hardy, Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, George Eliot and Robert Louis Stevenson.

The surrounding landscape has also been transformed. An enchanting stream flows through the ASHA Centre from the nearby the sacred St Anthony’s Well, an ancient spring whose name dates from the medieval period, which was closely connected to the monks of nearby Flaxley Abbey. The remains of a derelict swimming pool and a sea of mud have been replaced with 5,000 Olde English David Austin rose-garden planted in memory of Bailey, Zerbanoo’s father, who loved roses.

The old front yard transformed into an Olde English Rose Garden

The five acres of land have been transformed into beautifully tended gardens. The upper land, formerly an unused field, has been turned by hand and is now a productive horticultural project. Visitors are treated to the pleasure of seeing their food grown and picked freshly. No fertilisers, no carbon footprint, no packaging – just good food, as Mother Nature intended.

The gardens include a large level lawn, a substantial herb garden, a Peace Grove with fire-pit and orchards.                                                                                            

A Secret Garden has been created out of a dumping ground. It is accessed by two handmade bridges across the stream, where visitors come across a bluebell glade, a pond and a labyrinth surrounded by a sacred grove of indigenous trees planted by the Druids.                 

Many more distinctive trees have been planted.  Their are beautiful seating areas created in memory of those special people who have contributed to the creation of the ASHA Centre. Statues of religious figures, artefacts and inspirational quotes are placed throughout the Centre reflecting the interfaith foundations of the ASHA Centre. 

Since its acquisition in 2007, there have been extensive improvements to the site, this includes the ruins of a Cider Press which have been fully rebuilt in traditional style. The former tumbledown goat shed has been converted by local craftsmen to provide staff accommodation. The Forest Barn with solar panels (supported by RDP) was built to provide facilities for horticulturalists and herbalists, storage for garden produce, tools and a carpentry workshop. Asha’s Eco Lodge was open by editor and peace pilgrim Satish Kumar. Positioned in the upper garden for quiet mediation and bird watching, surrounded by a Swiss rockery. In honour of JRR Tolkien, who took inspiration from the Forest of Dean to write his famous trilogy Lord of the Rings, a children's area has been created, called Hobbiton. Adjacent is a Fairy glen with miniature houses and array of fairies. This is further complimented by the building of the impressive Peace Pavilion designed by Paul Thornton with local construction workers and carpenters. The Peace Pavilion is used for education, celebration and holistic wellbeing events.

Since this ancient site has been developed Asha has shared this sacred space with over five thousands of young people from Britain and around the world. They testify to having had life transforming experiences through taking part in residential, educational courses, gardening apprenticeships and volunteering placements. The ASHA Centre has also hosted many retreats, community events and celebrations. Asha has and continues to bring great joy to many people experiencing this magical, secret corner of Britain for the first time.

The ASHA story continues ……….