
Bidborough windmill had a new cap lifted on 1st May. There is a housing development around the mill, and the mill is being "refurbished." I don't know if this means restored or converted though.More research shows that the local council in May 2005 approved a planning application
04/02906/7: Four Winds Windmill and Land, Penshurst Road
Restoration of windmill, extension and conversion to form one house and erection of four houses and three flats.
so despite the misleading "restoration" in the title, it does look as if this is another mill falling prey to house conversion.
"finally got the backstays on and had the mill working this evening. She was struggling in a very light wind but cracked wheat well and nearly ground. Hopefully have her running at the weekend!"
Whale House, Windmill, Darwin House First visit a windmill in Holland that's still grinding corn. A young family in Mexico lives inside the belly of their whale house. Finally, down in Australia a family beats the heat in an open-air house.The mill in question is Molen van Piet in Alkmaar.
The Driving section of the Sunday Times, 19/3/06 shows off the new Fiat Grande Punto car in front of Brill windmill.
The review of the car itself by Jeremy Clarkson,
inside the section, is well worth reading, though it has no further photos of the mill. Overall Jeremy liked it, but gives a verdict
of cheap, cheerful, and slow.
The March 06 issue of Photography Monthly magazine carries an atmospheric
shot of a windmill somewhere on the Norfolk Broads.
Tehran, 19 February 2006 (CHN) -- The remained rare and limited windmills in the Province of South Khorassan are close to complete destruction. These windmills, called "A'sbad" among the locals of the region, are located in the Village of Chahar Farsakh, most southern point of the province. It is strongly believed that their revival can definitely lead to the promotion of tourism in this region. The Village of Chahar Farsakh is located at the terminal point of a desert without any accessible communicative road except one old route from the city of Nahbandan. As Alireza Shahbakhsh, tourism deputy of Cultural Heritage & Tourism Department in the province says the implemented studies and surveys in the region and its suburbs show that these windmills are among the oldest windmills of the world. He also emphasized that the initial idea to construct windmills in other countries, particularly the Netherlands, has been transferred to these countries from Iran, the city of Zabol and its suburban areas. According to Shahbakhsh, despite registration of these windmills by the officials of Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, no positive measure has been taken for protection and restoration of these windmills which once had key roles in the culture and life of desert residents. "Lack of efficient budget is one of the chief factors behind negligence toward revival of these unique windmills", an expert from Cultural Heritage & Tourism Department of the province pointed out. Windmills were an essential part of daily life for many of the region's early residents. They helped colonial farmers grind grains and gave pioneers a way to pump water along trails, rail lines and new farmlands. Farmers relied on the power of wind during much of the past 20 years in this region. However, today due to development of technology, many windmills stand unused and deteriorating in fields. Except for a few windmills in the City of Zabol and its suburban areas, the rest of the windmills are under the danger of complete destruction. A small model of complete construction of these windmills has been exhibited in the temporary museum of Cultural Heritage & Tourism Department in the city of Zahedan (capital of Sistan va Baluchestan province). Contrary to other desert regions which suffer from water shortage all the time, the Village of Chahar Farsakh enjoys a great Qanat (subterranean canal) which has flourished the agriculture of the region. The region is under the impression of 120-day winds of Sistan most of the time during the year. That is why windmills of this village are considered the local industry of this region
Who are we? In the depths of the Norfolk countryside a young man by the name of Bob Morse thankfully had a fascination with Windmills. Starting back in 1947 he purchased the then very derelict Thurne Mill. Nature had taken its toll on the poor thing which had stood with only the stocks remaining, even the interior floors and stairs had rotted away. Work began and Bob managed to secure the help of Albert England, a direct descendant of England's of Ludham, the Millwright family who built the Mill in 1820. It took only eighteen months for the pair of them to restore the Tower to its former glory. Several years later the Mill was leased to the Norfolk Windmill Trust who have very successfully continued with the restoration. In September 2002 the Millwright Vincent Pargetter completed his work on the shutters and the Mill turned again for the first time since 1936. More than 200 people attended the celebrations including a very proud Bob Morse. This year should see the work completed on the turbine and then she will be able to pump again. The Mill is open to the public (and turning weather permitting) from April - September every 2nd & 4th Sunday of the month between 2pm - 5pm. Bob Morse continued his work by rescuing derelict wind engines and restoring them to their original condition. Here at Morse's Wind Engine Park we have a historical collection of unique wind engines and a scoopwheel dating back to the nineteenth century. Our aim here at the Park is to ensure the long-term conservation of the collection. We are a "not for profit" organisation, and the time has come for these great machines to help pay for themselves. In order to do this we will be offering a membership scheme, which will include a copy of our twice-yearly publication "The Morse Messenger". We are intending to have our own web site, which will be "windengines.com", so for those of you who surf please watch this space, it should be packed full with information, images and souvenirs. However, in these early stages it would be really encouraging to hear from any of you out there who would like to comment on the above, ask questions, get involved, offer advice, fill out a questionnaire or just have a chat. My name is Debra Nicholson and I can be contacted by: - E-mail:- debranicholson@windengines.com Post to: -
Mrs Debra Nicholson
Morse's Wind Engine Park
Marsh View
Staithe Road
Repps
Norfolk NR29 5JU
Telephone: - 01692 672155 Thank you for reading this article, I'd love to hear from you.
The history of the English working class has been written only in dribs and drabs; one day soon people will turn round and realise that all the monuments to England's industrial greatness have disappeared. Nobody now remembers that the Essex village of Bocking is where Samuel Courtauld first began to manufacture artificial silk in the early 1800s. The original mill, near the parish church, has long since disappeared. Most of the Essex windmills were allowed to collapse, some after long struggle to find money to conserve them. We have other examples of early power generation - tide-mills for example. One day we will have to decide what to do with Tilbury power station when it is mothballed.
National Mills Weekend 2006 (May 13/14) celebrates the 75th anniversary of
SPAB's Mills Section.
More than 80 Mills In UK Are Taking Part.
Wind and water are sustainable power sources, used for hundreds of years in Britain in the production of natural food.
2006 sees the 75th anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) Mills Section and what better
way to mark this landmark year in the battle to save some of the nation's most loved and evocative buildings than to celebrate
their practicality along with their beauty?
SPAB's founder William Morris held that you should have nothing in your home that you do not know to be both beautiful and useful
- a maxim that could easily apply to Britain's wind and watermills. There are currently more than 100 working mills capable of
producing natural, stone ground flour and 100 of these will be open to the public during SPAB's 75th Anniversary National
Mills Weekend - May 13th/14th 2006. In addition, over the weekend, a further 300 mills throughout the country will be
welcoming visitors.
SPAB's Windmill Committee was formed in 1931 in response to an alarming decline in the numbers of the country's windmills.
Later it included watermills within its interests, and it "encouraged the art of country milling". Still active today the SPAB
is the only national amenity society dedicated to the protection of our milling heritage.
Some working mills are more than 300 years old yet still efficiently doing the job in the 21st century that they were built
and designed for. Simon Hudson, SPAB?s Mills Section Secretary says:
What could be better or more sustainable than natural food made using a 100% environmentally friendly power source?Many of the mills open in May are run by members of the Traditional Corn Millers Guild. The Guild was set up in 1987 to promote stone ground, wholemeal, oatmeal and other special flours to a wider public and continue the tradition of milling with stones. A new publication: Stone Ground Flour - Where Can I Find It? gives information about where these products can be found. Listing mills from Cumbria to Kent and from Cornwall to Scotland, this publication is launched for National Mills Weekend 2006 and is available from the SPAB Mills Section and from participating mills. Further details of National Mills Weekend are available from Simon Hudson, Mills Section Secretary, SPAB Mills Section, 37 Spital Square, London E1 6DY (0207 456 0909). e-mail millsinfo@spab.org.uk or visit to the website.
| Last updated 19th March 2008 | Text and images © Mark Berry, 1997-2008 - |