Mills owned by the National Trust

The windmills include each of the three types of post, smock, and tower mill. Amongst them are the post mill at Pitstone Green, Buckinghamshire, the last remaining thatched tower mill at High Ham, Somerset; the last windmill on the Isle of Wight, at Bembridge; and a small drainage smock mill at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire. Unfortunately, of these only the pumping mill is in full working order.

The National Trust watermills fare much better, in terms of being in working order. The Trust has an ongoing programme of mill restoration, often employing the millwright Martin Watts, and a good number of the mills can produce flour.

The Trust also has examples of waterpowered "factories", such as the large mill at Quarry Bank, which celebrated 25 years of opening in 2003.

Details can be found below of most National Trust mills that are open to the public. The Trust also owns a number of mill properties that are not necessarily publicly accessible (some being leased as residences), including:

• Burnham Overy, Norfolk which is available for holiday lets.
• Blicking watermill, Norfolk
• Boar Mill, Corfe Castle, Dorset - undergoing restoration for future opening
• West Mill, Corfe Castle, Dorset - just a ruin
• Flatford Mill, Suffolk, which is leased to the Field Studies Council.
• Lundy Island which has a windmill tower - the island is leased to the Landmark Trust and can be visited
• Gibson Mill, West Yorkshire - also with plans to reopen

Not currently included on this list is the Tyntesfield Estate, which opened for limited public access in 2003, whilst still undergoing restoration. This property, acquired by the Trust in 2002 after a public appeal, was built with all "modern conveniences" - which in their time included waterpowered devices for pumping. It is unclear whether these devices still exist on the estate.

See also the Trust's pages on

• Great places to see science working, which gives a good summary of what happens at each of the mills.
• Industrial architecture

Bibliography

• Watermills and Windmills - A National Trust Pocketbook, J Kenneth Major, 1986. ISBN 0-7117-0176-8