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The Dunkirk Mill Centre offers a wonderful opportunity to see a see a massive working water wheel directly powering a rare piece of historic textile machinery. The overshot wheel, twelve feet wide and thirteen feet in diameter, was installed in the mill in 1855 as part of the last major re-building programme carried out during its time as a woollen mill. It was made and installed by James Ferrabee of Stroud having a mainly cast iron frame with forty steel buckets. The wheel is operated regularly on opening days, (subject to water supply), and the sight of the wheel starting to move in a powerful cascade of water is unforgettable.