Mill news and topical information - Archive page 27

Oby Mill sold at auction

The Grade 2* drainage mill at Oby has been sold at auction for £41,500 to Adam Whiting, a local man. The underbidder was The Norfolk Windmills Trust.
Mills: [Ashby with Oby]
Item: #674, Posted: 8/4/08.

Holambra windmill, Brazil

There are very few windmills in South America, so claiming to be the "largest windmill in Latin America" does not of itself imply all that much. However, the mill under construction at the Dutch influenced Holambra in Brazil, which claims this title, is indeed an immense mill - over 30 metres tall.

Construction has been going on for a year or so, and although this is technically a smock mill, the four storey smock sits on top of an immense 4 storey base. The smock was constructed on the ground, then lifted on top of the base, with the cap then lifted above both of them.

Photos of the construction show the progress of the build, though the very few details I have found about it are in Brazillian. A machine translation of this reads:

THE BIGGEST MILL OF AMERICA LATINA It is being built in Holambra the largest Dutch windmill tipico Latin America. After ready he will have 33 meters tall with a base of 10.2 meters wide. With five floors, the grinder well as tourist attraction will also produce the grinding of wheat, corn and grains. He will have the same functions and features typical of the windmills of Holland. To build and override the upper structure of balls, weighing more than 30 tonnes, will need a crane with resources to reach 50 meters.

I was alerted to the existence of this new mill via some photos on flickr.
Mills: []
Item: #673, Posted: 6/4/08.

Looking up for Holgate mill

"The Press" in York carries a roundup of the progress of restoration of Holgate mill, suggesting that the mill could be grinding flour again by the end of the year if all goes to plan.

The article lists a number of sources of funding that have helped the mill to the tune of about £500,000:

a current application to a private organization, to try and secure the £44,000 that represent the last major block of funding needed
£66,500 from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
£50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund
£25,000 from environmental body Yorventure
£22,000 from the Local Heritage Initiative
£97,856 from environmental charity GrantScape

Parts for the cap and sails are currently beeing assembled, and joinery work is going on inside the mill, which has already been newly rendered. One of the problems is actually getting time from the busy millwright, Tom Davies.

The accompanying discussion also contains useful information, including this from Paul Hepworth, Press Officer of Holgate Windmill Preservation Society:

When we applied for planning Consent to restore Holgate Mill, we advised CoYC Planners of a similar suburban mill in Lincoln. We had visited it earlier and found that it is whisper quiet in operation. In fact the greatest ambient noise came from a nearby resident who was using an electric trimmer on his hedge! I'm pleased to say that this Mill provided a useful comparator for Holgate, and we subsequently received Planning Consent for Holgate's restoration. This Consent does restrict the hours between which the Mill may be open to the public. Within that is a more onerous restriction on the hours between which we can operate the sails.

Mills: [Holgate Mill]
Item: #672, Posted: 5/4/08.

Third turbine for Ford plant at Dagenham

There are currently 2 Ecotricity wind turbines at Ford's Dagenham Diesel Centre, powering the engine factory since 2004. The recent addition of an extra engine line (for 1.4- and 1.6-litre TDCi units) has increased the power needs of the site, and Ford is looking to apply for planning permission to install a third turbine to serve these needs.
Item: #671, Posted: 5/4/08.

Leeds windmill hotel changes hands

The 105 bedroom hotel in Leeds, currently known as the Ramada Jarvis Leeds North Hotel, which is based around the remains of Whin Moor windmill, has been bought for £7.26m. The old owners were London-based Morley Fund Management, and the new ones are Manchester-based Blair Estates. Whether the change in ownership will result in a change in name for the hotel is unclear.
Mills: [Seacroft Mill]
Item: #670, Posted: 5/4/08.

New website for the Windmill Study Unit

The Windmill Study Unit is a part of the the American Topical Association and publishes a regular bulletin called Windmill Whispers. It's a international group, which although primarily philatelic, also attracts members who belong for the interesting molinological items that are carried in the bulletin.

The unit has a new website, which includes back issues of Windmill Whispers to give you a taste of what they cover (which includes as well as stamps, items such as matchboxes, phone cards, coins and banknotes, sugar bags), and also has full contact details of the representatives in various countries.
Item: #669, Posted: 30/3/08.

Marton windmill loses sail in gales

The windmill at Marton, Lancashire lost one of its sails in gales over the Easter weekend. The mill had undergone a facelift last autumn, when it was completely repainted.

News reports via Blackpool Gazette and The Citizen.
Mills: [Little Marton]
Item: #668, Posted: 30/3/08.

Morse's wind engine park volunteer work weekend, 7th-8th June 2008

Morse's wind engine park in Repps, Norfolk is holding another volunteer work weekend on 7th-8th June 2008. Full details.

Mills: [Repps with Bastwick]
Item: #667, Posted: 19/3/08.

Flowerdew Hundred windmill for sale

Flowerdew Hundred is a historic plantation in Virginia, USA, that was the site of the first known windmill in the US colonies. To commemorate this, a working copy of a post mill was constructed in 1977-8.

However the plantation is no longer open to the public, having closed in October 2007, and the current owners are looking to sell on the windmill, so that it can be relocated to another institution where it can remain accessible to the public.
Item: #666, Posted: 19/3/08.

Tilty watermill conversion planning permission refused

Listed building consent for the controversial house conversion of Tilty watermill has been refused, much to the relief of the milling community. However, this is just a small victory - now the real battle begins to find an acceptable alternative future for the building.
Item: #665, Posted: 27/2/08.

Norfolk's Windmills by river, road, and rail

Luke Bonwick has produced a book on visiting Norfolk Windmills, with information about how to approach the mills by car or boat, and based around a number of tours around parts of the county.

There is more information and a sizable sample of the information contained in the book at Norfolk's Windmills by river, road and rail.

Item: #664, Posted: 19/2/08.

Latest progress at Holgate Mill

Assembly of the new shears has begun at Network Rail's York Holgate site (formerly the railway carriageworks.) The windshaft and star await ultrasonic testing and hopeful reuse. Millwright Tom Davies is overseeing the works.

Mills: [Holgate Mill]
Item: #663, Posted: 18/2/08.

Wedding and working at Heage windmill

Two news stories about Heage windmill:

Holly Ryalls and Andy Wheat said their informal wedding vows at the mill, before their true wedding at the Register Office. Holly is one of the millers at Heage.
Stone dressing and other maintenance work continues over the winter closure, with volunteers working under the careful scrutiny of consultant millwright John Boucher.

Mills: [Heage]
Item: #662, Posted: 25/1/08.

Barnham windmill gets permission for house conversion

Despite the strong objections of the SPAB Mills Section, the last restorable windmill in West Sussex has been granted permission to be house converted.

Owner Barry Lee had been restoring the mill, but after trying unsuccessfully to sell it on, had submitted a planning application to turn the mill into one house, with two more houses formed from the attached buildings (which had been run as a tea room). Arun District Council's development control committee approved the application, apparently without debate.
Mills: [Barnham]
Item: #661, Posted: 25/1/08.

Sheerness windmill rebuild badly damaged in fire

The windmill in Sheerness which was in the process of being rebuilt from the surviving base, has been badly damaged by fire. The rebuild was to be largely cosmetic, with the smock part of the building, which would traditionally have been made of wood, being mostly metal framed instead.

Update: More information from a variety of news reports: (Kent News, Kent Online, video of blaze, another video )

the mill is owned by father and son Bernie and Caleb Watson
the fire started on wednesday night, and crews worked to contain it till almost 6am thursday
forensic investigations by Friday 25th have concluded the fire is NOT suspicious
the steel skeleton of the smock has fire protective paint on it

Mills: [Sheerness]
Item: #660, Posted: 25/1/08.

Argos Hill Windmill - perhaps a Trust can be formed

The meeting on 14th January 2007 with Wealden District Council and around 40 members of the public heard the Council suggest that a Trust be formed to help restore Argos Hill windmill, since a Trust would have access to some sources of money that the Council was unable to apply to.

The BBC have reported on the moves, and there is a detailed write up at the Sussex Mills Group site.
Mills: [Mayfield]
Item: #659, Posted: 21/1/08.

Proposal to demolish Argos Hill Windmill

News just passed to me by Sussex Mills Group:

Wealden District Council are holding a meeting on Monday 14th January at which they are proposing to demolish Argos Hill Windmill and to put her in storage. We need your help and support to stop this. Please come along to the meeting on Monday 14th January at 7.30pm, being held at the Mayfield Primary School (next to the Memorial Hall).

Update: Confirmed this is Monday 14th Jan 2008.
Mills: [Mayfield]
Item: #658, Posted: 10/1/08.

New stock installed at Jill

Next week should see the culmination of five months’work by volunteers at Jill Windmill, Clayton.

Two Sweeps were removed in April for routine inspection, refurbishment and painting. An inspection of the 33 ft long Stock (to which the Sweeps are attached) revealed that the parts were rotting, so they decided to replace it. Detailed drawings were drawn up and a new Stock was ordered from a Danish company. The construction was to be laminated Siberian Larch.

The new stock has been fitted and painting of the Sweeps is complete. Weather permitting the plan is to hang two Sweeps next week, probably Wednesday.

Full details of the project are on the Jill website.
Mills: [Clayton]
Item: #657, Posted: 21/9/07.

Millers' Tales - Kent Mills at the Mills Archive

Thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the Mills Archive have been able to expand their catalogue with a major focus on the mills of Kent. There are in the order of 8000 new items added, from the Mills Archive's own collections and from Kent County Council.

The Kent items are showcased via a specific Kent section to the Archive, at Millers' Tales: The Changing Face of Kent Mills. The coverage includes windmills, watermills, and horse mills.

I have added direct links to the relevant material on each of my Kent windmills pages.

The BBC had a write up of the Millers' Tale Project.
See also:Item #637
Item: #656, Posted: 18/9/07.

More street level photos, showing Murphy windmill base

San Francisco is situated at the end of Silicon Valley, and as such it's a hot bed of new technology. Hardly surprising then that it's becoming one of the best photographed and documented cityscapes in the world. As well as featuring in Google's Street View images, it's also the chosen first city for MapJack, another street level view website.

The base of the Murphy windmill in Golden Gate Park can be seen in this series of shots: 1, 2 and others.

This rather confirms that progress on the restoration appears to have stalled.
See also:Item #635
Item: #655, Posted: 10/9/07.

Sails for Impington mill hauled into place

Impington windmill is to be found on the outskirts of Cambridge, a city known, amongst many other things, for being a rowing city. As such there's a good supply of fit labour, and so, when the new sails need to be hoisted up on the windmill, there's no need to use a crane - the age old technique of hauling it up by hand, using block and tackle can be used. This took place on 9th September 2007, and was quite a local happening, attracting a crowd of about 50 who came to picnic and view the event. Only one pair of sails was completed, since it took longer than expected.

There's an (unfortunately not very clear) picture of the process on Flickr - which also manages to describe the process (perhaps ironically) as "mill righting", rather than "millwrighting" (well, if you consider that a windmill should have its sails to make it "right", then this is "righting" the mill).

Update:[11/9/07] There's a series of 8 photos at Geograph, showing the second sail being lifted into place. The captions to the photos provide a bit more detail:

"Starting to lift the second sail using a Tirfor winch, and block and tackle for the safety rope. Optimistic team members hoped to have all four sails on in one day, but although raising the second took only an hour, raising the first had involved a steep learning curve, and jammed pulleys, and only two sails were finished by the end of the day."

Mills: [Impington]
Item: #654, Posted: 10/9/07.

Wheatley windmill open day

The restoration of Wheatley windmill has been a protracted process, and I had failed to notice that at long last the scaffolding had been removed, and the mill is looking fine, with a full set of sails.

The Wheatley windmill website details the work that has been done since 1977, and provides other pages on the mill's history etc.

The mill was open on 9th Spetember 2007, and there's a good selection of photos from the day up on Flickr (unfortunately they are not all uniquely labelled, so you have to step through the much larger Oxfordshire set to find them all).
Mills: [Wheatley]
Item: #653, Posted: 10/9/07.

Auction of Framsden windmill painting to benefit Broomhill Pool

The campaign to save Broomhill open air swimming pool is holding an online auction of a painting of Framsden Mill by Ken Farrow.

Bids are accepted via email to the Broomhill Pool site, and can be submitted before Heritage Open Day on Sunday 9 September.

Update:[31/8/07] The Broomhill Pool Trust have provided me with a much clearer picture of the painting, now shown above. The image includes a ruler (unusually a 15inch one), from which I can see the painting is approximately 24x19 inches, inside a frame of about 29x25 inches.
Mills: [Framsden]
Item: #652, Posted: 29/8/07.

Miss Wimbledon 2007 Campaign Photoshoot

A set of photos of a photoshoot around Wimbledon windmill is now showing at Flickr. The model shown is Natasha - I'm not sure whether she is the current Miss Wimbledon, or whether this is just publicity for the competition itself.
Mills: [Wimbledon Common]
Item: #651, Posted: 29/8/07.

News from East Dereham

Geoff Hayton, Chairman to the Trustees of Dereham Windmill informs me:

"The Trustees of Dereham Windmill have just received planning permission for a Visitor Centre to hopefully be built adjacent to the Windmill. The Trustees have applied for a Heritage Lottery Grant for the Full Restoration of the Mill to bring it to a working mill capable of grinding corn once again. The Visitor centre will be complimentary to the mill and contain toilets, Tea Rooms, a small exhibition area; it will also have classroom facilities for schools. The Trustees hope to hear the result of their application for the grant in November 2007."

Mills: [East Dereham]
Item: #650, Posted: 29/8/07.

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Last updated 19th March 2008