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Mill news and topical information - Archive page 10

misc Australian phone card with windmill image

Whilst the text has nothing to do with mills at all, this discussion of cheap phone charges is illustrated by an Australian phone card carrying a couple of cartoon windmills.
Item: #249, Posted: 14/2/04.

watermills Mills of the Free State, South Africa

The second Virtual Mills Tour of South Africa, covering the mills of the Free State is now available.
Item: #248, Posted: 12/2/04.

watermills Friends of Quarry Bank Mill disbands

After fundraising efforts lasting 25 years, the Friends of Quarry Bank Mill have decided their job is done, and are disbanding. The last £21,700 of the group's funds was handed over as a donation to refurbishment of the Gregg Gallery. The group, started by councillors and businessmen still has almost 300 members.
See also:Item #77
Item: #247, Posted: 12/2/04.

mills Mills in the Virtual Motor City Collection of photos

Detroit is not an city that you would normally associate with wind powered devices. I therefore wasn't expecting much when I tried out the search available at The Virtual Motor City which gives access to the photo archives from the Detroit News (now housed at the Wayne State University). In fact I found a few interesting images:
Item: #246, Posted: 11/2/04.

windmills A Jitney Elopement, by Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin's early silent films, produced for the Essanay and Mutual studios, are out of copyright, and now in the public domain. This means that they are cheap source material for DVD's, and hence available from a number of producers.

Chaplin's film, A Jitney Elopement, from 1915, features a car chase along the seaward end of Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, and hence has good footage of the two windmills there. In particular the cars circle around in front of the Murphy windmill, which was hard at work pumping water to irrigate the park at this time.

This short film can be found on at least 3 DVD's in the UK: There is an extensive listing of Chaplin's British DVD's at The Charlie Chaplin UK DVD and Video Guide. Note that just because the film rights come for free, the DVD's themselves are not necessarily all that cheap to purchase!
See also:Item #217
Item: #245, Posted: 10/2/04.

energy Electric Storm comes to a close

The home page of Shell Electric Storm has been replaced with a bald statement that "Shell Electric Storm has now reached the end of its run. Thanks to everyone for your interest and support. Goodbye for now!".

I think its very shortsighted to disable the site in this way just because the event is over - but fear not, for the moment at least you can still enter the site and get to read the information that is still there, (and of course you can also find lots more info on my Electric Storm page).

The original plan at launch was to run the installation through to at least Valentines Day (Feb 14), but there does not seem to be any explanation given for ending it early. Personally, I was less than impressed with the sound, light, and misting effects of the installation - but the wind turbine looked magnificent on the river bank, and like the nearby London Eye I'd have liked its temporary planning permission to have been made permanent.
See also:Item #167
Item: #244, Posted: 10/2/04.

watermills Anti-vandal fence to protect Shrewsbury Flaxmill

The 18th century iron framed Flaxmill in Shrewsbury has stood empty since 1987, and although Grade I listed, is high on the Buildings at Risk register. Some urgent repairs have just been completed to protect the building from vandals, and a conservation plan is beginning to form. (Emergency repairs were noted as required in 2002, but little was done, and a further crisis arose in August 2003).
Item: #243, Posted: 9/2/04.

windmills Recent pictures of Sussex mills

A informal series of informative and well photographed pages on Sussex windmills is building up on the Rough Wood site. In the last month pages have been photographed and written for Punnetts Town, Rottingdean, Jack and Jill, Clayton, Cross in Hand.
Mills: [Clayton] [Clayton] [Punnett's Town] [Rottingdean] [Cross in Hand]
See also:Item #194
Item: #242, Posted: 9/2/04.

windmills Lincolnshire - In the Steps of Don Quixote

The Spring 2004 edition (which may well be the first) of The Good Holiday Guide contains some truly mediocre travel writing - the articles are mostly all written by a single writer, or are just rehashed info provided by tourist information offices. The article on travel in the East of England is a particularly poor example of the art, being titled "In the Steps of Don Quixote", (a reference which is neither geographically accurate, nor is it even explained), atop an article which manages to cover the rich windmilling heritage of Lincolnshire in just two sentences. The tiny inch high accompanying photo of Heckington windmill is uncredited, perhaps showing this to be lifted direct from the tourist office provided publications.
Mills: [Heckington]
Item: #241, Posted: 8/2/04.

mills Mills at the End of the Line

The Knowledge is a small format magazine insert included with the Saturday edition of The Times. In the 7th Feb 2004 edition, there is an article by the London novelist Nick Barlay, entitled End of the Line which describes a number of attractions in London, to be founds in the suburbs. These include the snuff grinding watermill at Morden Hall Park, and the windmill on Wimbledon Common (illustrated).
Mills: [Wimbledon Common]
Item: #240, Posted: 8/2/04.

watermills Recent postage stamp issues showing watermills

These were the postage stamp issues in 2003 that featured watermills.
Item: #239, Posted: 1/2/04.

windmills Recent postage stamp issues showing windmills

There were a couple of postage stamp issues in 2003 that featured windmills. The Stamp C@fe has a page showing the windmills new issues in 2004 (if any come out!), 2003, 2002.
Item: #238, Posted: 1/2/04.

windmills Photo of the day - La Mancha

I've taken a few weeks to spot it, but the National Geographic photo of the day for Nov 25, 2003 was of Windmills in La Mancha I don't actually think the photo, shot by James P. Blair in 1981, is all that good - it's got no particular focus, and would benefit from being cropped to keep just the bottom half, making it into a panoramic shot. You can download the image in a large enough size to use as a desktop background.
Item: #237, Posted: 31/1/04.

windmills Tulip Time, Michigan, features in National Geographic

The Feb 2004 Dutch language edition of National Geographic Magazine has an article about Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan, USA. As related in the local paper, the Holland Sentinel, the 14 page article is not simply a tourism plug - it relates why the city's founders left the Netherlands, and the traditions they brought with them. The illustrations were assembled during the Tulip Time festival in 2003, and include the title page photo of DeZwaan windmill.
Item: #236, Posted: 31/1/04.

windmills Comprehensive database of Lincolnshire windmills

Lincolnshire County Council have put together a comprehensive online database of Lincolnshire windmills. Whilst the layout of the pages is rather poor (trading corporate style for usability and readability) the content is very good. It includes information on each of the mills extracted from the late Peter Dolman's book (published by the council in 1986), together with recent photos by Peter Kirk. There are warnings on each page that the text may now be out of date!
Item: #235, Posted: 31/1/04.

mills Collage image database

The Corporation of London Libraries and Guildhall Art Gallery has launched Collage, an image database containing over 20,000 works, including both prints and paintings dating from 1500 onwards.

Searching for windmill brought up 48 matches, with the majority being in London, (Blackheath is especially well represented), but also including Lytham, Cley, Paris, and a number of Dutch paintings. A search for mill shows another good selection of images, though unsurprisingly includes a number where the only link is in the placename.
Item: #234, Posted: 31/1/04.

watermills The Eagle has Landed

It's interesting to compare the view of Mapledurham watermill that appeared in the 1976 film The Eagle Has Landed (shown last night on ITV), with its current appearance as seen recently in Midsomer Murders.

In 1976, Mapledurham did not have its main waterwheel in place, so the filmmakers actually built a whole new mill immediately downstream of the real one. This ensured they had a rotating waterwheel which features quite significantly in the plot. Of course having a fake mill in place also helped considerably when the gun battle ensues, since it receives considerable damage. (The filmmakers similarly had to build a replica of the church, since that comes off much the worse for its battle scars).
Mills: [Mapledurham]
See also:Item #222
Item: #233, Posted: 25/1/04.

watermills A visit to Chesapeake Mill

The Telegraph property pages column Making the Grade this week covers Chesapeake mill in Hampshire. As the article explains, the mill includes timbers from the American frigate Chesapeake, which the British navy captured off Boston in 1813. John Prior purchased the wood from the gun deck for £3450 when the ship was scrapped in 1819, and used it in his mills' construction.

The article's is a bit low on information on the current status of the mill - Hampshire council who have owned it since 1998 are looking to sell it (probably in the form of a lease), and the article points out that there were various potential buyers, including proposals to run it as a museum, and also simply for a commercial retail operation. I'd understood the retail proposal had won out - so I'm not sure if this is sloppy reporting, or does indicate that the battle is not lost.

The (prospective?) new owners Taylor Haimes Ltd, submitted their planning application W14232/07 - 03/03005/FUL for Change of use from manufacture, storage and distribution to (A1) Retail (public and wholesale) and storage of antiques, furniture, decorative items and general household goods/effects, with ancillary offices and museum on 16 December 2003.
See also:Item #140
Item: #232, Posted: 25/1/04.

windmills Belgium and Dutch mill calendar for 2004 from Molen Magazine

Molen Magazine covers windmills (and to a lesser degree watermills) in Belgium, and the neighbouring countries especially the Netherlands. The site is all in Flemish or Dutch, so their News and 2004 calendar page may be a little impenetrable, but you can get a partial translation from World Lingo.
Item: #231, Posted: 21/1/04.

watermills Bacheldre Watermill award winning organic flour

Bacheldre Watermill, Churchstoke, Powys, Wales, took gold in the organic category of True Taste / Gwir Flas Wales Food and Drink Awards 2003-4 for its three varieties of organic flour.
Item: #230, Posted: 20/1/04.

windmills Buckland windmill news roundup

Much progress has been made during 2003 in the work to bring Buckland windmill, Surrey, to working order. A RES grant (Rural Enterprise Scheme) granted in April 2003 is going towards the phase 3 work, including electrical power to the mill, restoration of a saw bench and lathe for the mill to drive, and adjustments to get the sails and fantail working. The sails were in fact workable by July, but were catching on the mills windows, and the automatic fantail still needed work.

The mill's open day in September attracted over 200 visitors, and the mill has had publicity in Surrey Life, Surrey Mirror, Dorking Advertiser, and a 2 page article in the December 2003 issue of Surrey Monocle.
Mills: [Buckland]
Item: #229, Posted: 20/1/04.

windmills Scarborough Windmill under the full moon

The 8th Jan 2004 was a full moon - and this photographer used the opportunity to take a ghostly photo of Scarborough windmill.
Mills: [Scarborough]
Item: #228, Posted: 20/1/04.

windmills Windmill 'De Haensmole' at Grou (Friesland) destroyed

The 18th century windmill 'De Haensmole' at Grou (Friesland) was destroyed on 9th Jan 2004, when it was rammed by the empty 85m long tanker Renasa. The mill had only just completed a restoration in 2003.

The Dutch Mill database has some photos, and there is a photo of the wreckage, but I don't know how long it will be available for since the story has already dropped off this site. There is an illustrated article, and another.

Other sites carry the story in Dutch if you can read that - they all seem to be reporting the same agency story: 1, 2, 3, 4
Item: #227, Posted: 19/1/04.

mills Fred Dibnah's Age Of Steam

Fred Dibnah's Age Of Steam produced in 2003, is currently being repeated on BBC2. The programme aired on 19th Jan 2004, called Driving The Wheels Of Industry although exploring the role played by steam power in the extraordinary expansion of industrial Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries and into the 20th Century, started predictably enough with what went before. In this case it was water power, and Fred visited Quarry Bank mill, the huge water powered cotton mill. Also covered was the (steam powered) Etruscan mill, which ground flint and bone for the potteries.
See also:Item #77
Item: #226, Posted: 19/1/04.

windmills Dereham mill suffers storm damage

Dereham windmill lost half a sail in storms on Tuesday 13th Jan 2004, and has been cordoned off to keep people away.

The friends of Dereham Windmill are hopeful that insurance money might be available to help them complete the £600,000 restoration package they are trying to assemble with the help of a 90% Heritage Lottery application. Dereham Town Council are the current owners of the mill, and are discussing its future.
Mills: [East Dereham]
Item: #225, Posted: 19/1/04.
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