Mill news and topical information - Archive page 12

Work progressing on Thaxted windmill

Following the situation last year where bricks were falling from the unsafe tower of Thaxted windmill, a major renovation programme, costing around £120,000 is now well underway.

The work is essentially to reconstruct the top of the tower, by rebuilding the top few feet of brickwork. This has required the sails to be removed, and the cap which weighs many tonnes lifted off whole. In turn, this required construction of a temporary road, so that the crane could reach the site.

The state of the work is currently that the contractors, Noble and Taylor, have rebuilt the brickwork, and much of the curb, though the roller bearing on which the cap rotates is still on the ground, as is the structure of the cap itself.
Mills: [Thaxted]
Item: #299, Posted: 25/4/04.

Cromer mill reorientated to face North-West

Cromer mill has been turned so that it faces North-West, as distinct from the Westerly direction it has been left facing for much of the past 75 years since it ceased to be a working mill. The main reason for this has been to swing the fantail so that it no longer overhangs the roadway - a position that has allowed it to be struck by vehicles, and needing to be twice rebuilt. A secondary advantage is that it moves the sails away from the neighbouring hedge, and within the past month, the sails have been turning in the wind probably for the first time since 1923.

Work is underway to construct a stone track around the mill for the fantail carriage, so that turning the mill to wind can be done regularly in future.
Item: #298, Posted: 25/4/04.

Lincolnshire Mills Group 21st birthday

On Friday 7th May it is the 21st birthday party of the Lincolnshire Mills Group. This is being held at Burgh le Marsh Windmill near Skegness from 2pm to 5pm. There will be stalls selling mill souvenirs, refreshments, a cake cutting and free entry to the mill.
Item: #297, Posted: 25/4/04.

Sounds of the windfarm in Searsburg Vermont

The eleven wind turbines at Searsburg, Vermont have been recorded and released as a CD on Spirit of Orr Records :: SO30R.
Item: #296, Posted: 24/4/04.

Safe as Houses - 13th April

The BBC property programme Safe as Houses broadcast on 13th April 2004 featured Sandy and Steve, who were looking for a new larger house in the North Wales round to Lancashire area. Over the course of a year they were seen looking at a variety of properties - including a converted windmill (described as dating from 1808, and priced at £345,000), and a working watermill (described as dating from 1740, and priced at £285,000). Neither location was identified.

Update: The locations have now been identified for me as the windmill at Pilling in Lancashire, and the watermill at Felin Isaf near Conwy.
Mills: [Pilling]
Item: #295, Posted: 21/4/04.

Stracey Arms windpump has sail removed

Stracey Arms windpump in Norfolk has had a damaged sail removed. Thanks to Michael Roots, I have some photos of the damage.
Mills: [Tunstall]
Item: #294, Posted: 18/4/04.

Chillenden Mill will be rebuilt on original site

Kent County Council, have confirmed that Chillenden Mill will be rebuilt on its original site, at a cost of around £350,000. There had been suggestions that the mill should be rebuilt instead in a museum. The BBC picked up on the story.
Mills: [Chillenden]
See also:Item #195
Item: #293, Posted: 3/4/04.

Norfolk mills site adds windmill coverage

Norfolk Mills has long been an impressive site about Norfolk watermills, with around 1400 images available.

Now the site has added windmills to the mix, with an impressive entry count of 53 mills covered so far.
Item: #292, Posted: 2/4/04.

Fabyan windmill seeks millers

The windmill at the Fabyan Forest Reserve, Illinois has just completed an extensive restoration at the hands of Dutch millwright Lucas Verbij.

Now the Forest Preserve District is looking for volunteer millers [PDF] who will operate the mill, and open it to the public.
See also:Item #134
Item: #291, Posted: 29/3/04.

Buckland windmill turns by wind

On a windy day in February 2004, Buckland windmill (a small saw mill in Surrey), was turned by wind for the first time since restoration. The mill's website is promising video of this in the near future. The machinery is now in place for the windmill to drive, but was not driven on the day.

A report on the windmill was presented at the SPAB windmill lecture on 20 March, and an illustrated talk is booked for presentation to a number of local groups in the near future.
Mills: [Buckland]
See also:Item #229
Item: #290, Posted: 29/3/04.

From Sheaf to Loaf in a Day - Wilton Windmill May 2003

OK, so I'm many months late getting to report on this, but in May 2003, Wilton windmill held an event where they threshed, milled, and then baked bread from local organic wheat. The BBC were at the event, and have audio and video of the event available. 2000 people turned up to share the experience.
Mills: [Great Bedwyn]
Item: #289, Posted: 29/3/04.

Winter sunshine at Cranbrook

Some images of Cranbrook mill on a sunny day in February. Cranbrook is such a tall mill, with buildings around it, that it's tricky to get the whole mill in one photo - and these photos don't try. Instead there are partial photos from close up, and a very nice image of the top of the mill peaking over white weatherboarded houses.
Mills: [Cranbrook]
Item: #288, Posted: 29/3/04.

Windows on Warwickshire - unlocking the past

Windows on Warwickshire is another archive website to gain Heritage Lottery funding, promoting access to historic collections representing the very best of Warwickshire's heritage, culture and personalities.

Amongst the 10,500 items, the Warwickshire Windmills theme has 18 entries, and the Windmills, Watermills and Cornmills theme has 105.

Also available via the site is the full text of Wilfred Seaby and Arthur Smith's book Windmills in Warwickshire - a contemporary survey.
Item: #287, Posted: 28/3/04.

Dads Army clips showing Drinkstone post mill

Dad's Army came fourth in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" poll. As part of the programme leading into the final, clips from each show were shown, which in Dad's Army's case included clips from the rarely seen "Don't forget the diver" which was filmed at Drinkstone post mill in 1971.
Mills: [Drinkstone]
Item: #286, Posted: 28/3/04.

Longley Farm packaging promoting wind turbines

Longley Farm in Yorkshire produce a range of dairy products, which are sold in supermarkets. Their recent packaging carries images of wind turbines - Natural Yogurt tubs show two turbines on a ridge, whilst the virtually fat free cottage cheese range (seems to be too recent to show on the website) shows a close up of a Vestas turbine. These would appear to be the Royd Moor windfarm (more details can be found at Powergen [PDF], and some distant photos). I'm glad to see this firm promoting their local attractions on their products.
Item: #285, Posted: 28/3/04.

Mount Pleasant windmill business is booming

Mount Pleasant windmill produces organic flour, and bakes it into bread on site. With a tonne of flour, and 500 loaves a week, business is booming, thanks to internet orders, and the owners are employing two twentysomethings as a miller and a baker to keep up with demand.

Since buying the mill for £375,000 in 1999, and spending a further £30,000 on renovations, Mervyn Austin, the owner who himself has 30 years of experience in the baking industry, has been familiarising himself with the equipment, and techniques needed to produce the 10 different flours the mill sells. These are turned into 15 different types of bread, currently baked in 2 batches a week, but expecting to be produced daily with the new baker working full time.
Mills: [Kirton in Lindsey]
Item: #284, Posted: 27/3/04.

Shipley looking for more volunteer guides for new season

The new season of openings of Shipley mill starts on 4th April, and continues on the first, second and third Sundays of each month through to October, plus Bank Holiday Mondays. The openings are manned by the Friends of Shipley Mill, who could do with some more volunteers, who as well as showing people around, can also get involved with maintenance and repairs of the mill if they want.
Item: #283, Posted: 27/3/04.

Mills Open seventh edition

The SPAB Mills Section have brought out the seventh edition of "Mills Open". This publication lists almost 450 mills across Britain, including windmills and watermills, which are open to the public. There are about 35 new entries in this edition, and of course updated entries for all existing mills, including web-site addresses and email contact details. The book is available direct from the SPAB.

Cover image: Great Bircham windmill, Norfolk - The Mildred Cookson Collection.
Mills: [Great Bircham]
See also:Item #276
Item: #282, Posted: 24/3/04.

Mills in British port cities

Port Cities is a new set of linked websites covering various port cities around Britain.

Amongst its coverage, it includes an article on Flour milling and the Port of London.

Lots of individual records show up if you search for either windmill or mill - you can do this at the overall site which searches all port cities at once, but you get better presentation of results (with thumbnails) if you search at the individual port's sites. Particularly rewarding is the Liverpool site which includes many images of windmills in the area.
Item: #281, Posted: 23/3/04.

Bumper mill coverage in the Sunday Times

Yesterday's Sunday Times had numerous mill related articles.

The property pages highlighted The Mill House, Ducklington, which is for sale as one of the houses of the week.
The ask the experts column answered the reader's question "I have bought an old mill in France that I plan to convert. How can I find an architect?"
The private property sales section included ads for Stanton windmill, Suffolk; and also for a French water mill
In a piece entitled "Vote for the windmill party", Jonathan Miller describes the nimbyism of English expats objecting to the erection of wind turbines in their adopted Languedoc, France.
The money section had an article on mortgages for unusual properties, dominated by a picture and story of how the owners of Staining windmill, Lancashire had no real problem financing their dream home,
The business section covered government plans for renewable energy, illustrated by a library picture of cows grazing beneath a dozen wind turbines.

Item: #280, Posted: 22/3/04.

Sibsey loses a sail to high winds

A weekend of high winds on 20-21st March has given a few reports of damage across the country. Amongst these, Sibsey windmill lost a sail - approx £13,000 of damage.
Mills: [Sibsey]
Item: #279, Posted: 22/3/04.

Rough Wood coverage expands to Kent

The Rough Wood site continues to add well photographed current images of various Sussex windmills, with Battle and Nutley added since I last mentioned the site. I also see a Kentish mill added this month, that of Stocks mill, Wittersham.
Mills: [Battle] [Nutley] [Wittersham]
See also:Item #256
Item: #278, Posted: 22/3/04.

Info boards for Woodbridge Tide Mill Quay

Although the mill has not specifically been affected, the quay around Woodbridge Tide Mill is preparing for its official opening ceremony on April 16th after its lottery funded refurbishment. As part of the work, new info boards describing the mill and the area surrounding it have been provided.
Mills: [Woodbridge]
Item: #277, Posted: 17/3/04.

SPAB release details of National Mills Weekend 2004

The SPAB Mills Section have issued their press release concerning National Mills Weekend. It details a number of the close to 500 mills which will be open over the weekend 8th - 9th May 2004.

In addition it announces that the 7th edition of Mills Open is now available from the SPAB office, giving details of locations and opening times of the many mills in the UK which open throughout the year.
Item: #276, Posted: 16/3/04.

Windmills in Jersey

The windmill on Jersey that used to be known as the Windmill Inn has changed usage in recent years, and is now a restaurant/cafe and jewellery outlet. It still has an extremely poor set of fake sails attached.
Item: #275, Posted: 16/3/04.

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