Macclesfield’s Paradise Mill is to star in an upcoming BBC4 documentary.
Filming for a programme called ‘Calculating Ada: Countess of Computing’ took place at the Mill in April and it’s jacquard looms and jacquard cards are to appear on screens this month.
The documentary will tell the tale of the remarkable life of Countess Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron, who is famed for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.
Although Ada is not belived to believed to have strong links with area, the mill’s rare Jacquard looms will be featured in the programme to illustrate how they were used in Babbage’s early attempts to create a steam powered computer.
Rose Smith, event Coordinator for Macclesfield Museums, said: “It is great news. We are very excited.
“It will increase publicity for the mill, which is one of the few places left that still has jacquard looms.”
The news comes after the Express last week revealed that the borough’s starring role for film crews and Hollywood heavyweights has helped pump more than £2.5m into Cheshire East’s economy.
Production companies spent more than 182 days working in Cheshire East last year, spending more than £2.5m in hotels, restaurants and shops.
It is not the first time the mill has appeared on screens. Filming took place at the Park Lane museum in 2012 for the Co-operative Group’s film The Rochdale Pioneers, which told the story of the Co-op movement. Cameras crews have also visited it to film for TV show Countryfile, a David Attenborough series and Guy Martin’s The Boat that Guy Built.
A spokesman said: “The new film is an enthralling tale of how a life infused with brilliance but blighted by illness and gambling addiction helped give rise to the modern era of computing.
“UCL mathematician Hannah Fry shares Ada’s passion for science, logic and the power of numbers. In this film she traces Ada’s unlikely union with the father of computers Charles Babbage.
“Babbage designed the world’s first steam powered computers – most famously the analytical engine - but it was Ada who realised the full potential of these new machines.” It will be shown on BBC4 on Thursday, September 17 at 9pm.
