Mill news and topical information - Archive page 30

Planning application for Bradleys Mill, Speldhurst. Kent

"I recently went down to Bradleys Mill, Speldhurst, near Tunbridge Wells in Kent, and was alarmed to find it fenced off, as if ready for redevelopment or conversion.

The mill itself is a good example of a West Kent/Sussex village corn mill, and remains internally complete, although the waterwheel has deteriorated markedly since it ceased work just over thirty years ago. The structure itself is in good condition.

A recent enquiry to Speldhurst Parish Council, has revealed that in 2008, the mill was subjected to two planning applications, the first of which was for conversion into a house, retaining the basic machinery. This was allowed without too much fuss. The first application was clearly a dummy run, as a month later a second application was entered, which wanted to convert the mill as above, and provide seven new homes. This was rejected, on environmental grounds, and also that the new development would have been a hazard for bus routes turning in from the main road.

I've just been alerted to a third application, which is a revised application of the second one, and includes a comprehensive traffic study. This was submitted on the 16th December, and can be objected to at this website :- http://pa.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/dcapplication/application_searchform.aspx You need to submit application reference 09/4000/1527 into the top box.

I have been alerted to this by concerned villagers and/or the parish council, who are keenish to see a different use for the mill. Perhaps even preservation. With the Kent Mills Society in its infancy, I've recently been looking at a few sites in Kent, and one thing that has become apparent is the shocking amount of conversion and development that has been allowed in the last twenty years.

Please take a moment to object to this if you can. The application is up for review I think on the 2nd January."

Pictures of Holgate cap, now in place

How to paint a windmill

Just came across these instructions on How to paint a windmill which amused me. (To avoid doubt, this is about how an artist captures an image of the windmill on paper - not how to apply a protective layer of paint to a windmill to keep the weather out!).

What the steps boil down to are:

1. find your windmill
2. look at it
3. think about it
4. draw a border
5. draw the windmill
6. paint the windmill
7. sign the painting

Unidentified windmill fire

"I have this photo in an old album which I picked up in junk shop. Any idea where it may be from, the family had connections near Bury St Edmunds, and in Hartest, Glomsford and Boxted Suffolk,part of the family lived Putney, London area and in High Wycombe. Sadly there is not any writing on the reverse only made out as photo postcard, divided back."

Can anyone help identify the mill?

Ibstone windmill in Day of the Triffids

Christmas Series of Victorian Farm

The first programme in the Christmas Series of Victorian Farm, featuring Alex Langlands, Ruth Goodman and Peter Ginn, aired at 9pm on Friday 11th December on BBC2.

This programme includes milling scenes at Wilton Windmill with Alex, Ruth and some of the Wilton Windmill Society's members. Ruth and Alex joined the millers in May this year to film the scenes for the programme. If you are watching this on iPlayer, the segment starts in the 27th minute of the recording.

Register of photographs of English windmills

Members may know that a few years ago I compiled a national register of photographs of English windmills, encompassing images to be found in printed publications as well as in museums, libraries, record offices and other sources of information. The cost of producing it in paper form would at the moment be prohibitive, and the Mills Archive have experienced problems in formatting it which so far have prevented it being added to their website. At the same time, although I deposited a copy of the manuscript (now out of date) at the Science Museum Library in 2002 it is not in the shelves but in their Archive section, something of which members of the public may not necessarily be aware; after some badgering by myself a notice was put up in the section on mills directing those wishing to consult the register to the Archive section but this has now been taken down.

I have therefore decided to post the register on my own website (http://www.guyblythman.com) where it may be consulted in full. It is spread out over several pages, the first three of which are titled "Windmill Photographic Register" and the fourth "Addenda". The material amounts to the equivalent of several printed books of the length of my recent "Lost Windmills of Sussex". It is meant as a complement to information sources such as the Simmons Collection, to my revision of C F Lindsey's Bibliography of British windmills, doing for photographs what has already been done for written records, and to the new technical archive currently being planned.

Although the aim was to include, as far as possible, every mill in England which has ever been photographed, a project like this can never be entirely complete, and indeed the register is continually being updated and added to; nonetheless I believe it will be of use both in existing research and in prompting molinologists etc to carry out new research.

I have not attempted to include every instance where a photograph appears on the internet (which was in its relative infancy when I began the survey), as this would be too large an operation; however the register should certainly be useful with regard to those information sources which may not have put all of their photographs on line.

The register, which involved extensive research over a period of six years, takes the form of a county-by-county gazetteer, with a section on photos where the mill cannot at present be conclusively identified. Altogether around several thousand (identified) windmills are included. Each entry states where the photograph(s) is/are to be found, the location of the mill, its condition as shown in the image, the date the photo was taken if known, and finally any particular features of interest which are visible.

Jack windmill Clayton Sussex has just lost a sweep

Estonian stamp featuring one of the Angla windmills

The Angla windmills, a group of 4 post mills and one smock mock, are very much a symbol of Estonia. Eesti Post is issuing a stamp featuring one of the post mills. Although only one of the mills is shown on the stamp, face value 5.50 kroon (0.35 euro), the first day cover shows the full set of 5 mills.

This stamp joins an ongoing series of stamps produced by Eesti Post that feature Estonian mills. Last year's issue was the tower mill at Polma, and the first in the series was the watermill at Hellenurme issued in 2007.

Cap for Holgate windmill ready to lift

StreetView wander around Huis Ten Bosch

Google continues to add to their impressive StreetView coverage, and the latest new countries to get images are Canada and the Czech Republic.

However for sheer visual impact, the inclusion of an "off road" set of images taken round Huis Ten Bosch (a Dutched themed town in Japan) is hard to beat.

World War II photos of Barnham windmill

I've been sent these photos which come from the photo collections of several US Army Air Force veterans who served in the 487th Bomb Group at Lavenham, England, in 1944-1945. It's not a mill I recognise, but is assumed to be fairly local to Lavenham since it appears in at least 4 separate collections.

The fourth photo shows Basil O'Connor (fifth from the left), head of the American Red Cross, visiting the airbase near Lavenham, England, during World War II. Notice the photo hanging on the wall at right. It looks to be the same as the first photo, so these photos may have been taken by a 487th Bomb Group photographer.

Please let me know if you can identify the windmill.

Photos in Google StreetView

Google StreetView is the result of systematicaly driving along streets with specially constructed cameras to produce a very useful full picture of the areas covered. To further add to the usefulness, for a while Google have been including photos from Panoramio. Thay have now also added photos from Picasa Web Albums, so for popular places its possible to see many shots, often from lots of different angles.

Where possible, I've added StreetView photos to the pages for individual mills. For example see:

• Shirley
• Wandsworth
• Holgate

Repairs at North Leverton windmill

• two rotten sails were removed on 8th June 2009 and the mill is now working on two sails
• Jon and another volunteer have recently tarred the tower and she is now watertight
• new windows have been fitted which improves her appearence no-end

Ken Major 1928 - 2009

Ken Major, a world authority on mills (and indeed on many other architectural fields), has died after a short illness.

A professional architect, he obtained an SPAB scholarship in 1952, and mills gradually became part of his wide mix of interests. Over the years he held the positions of Chairman of the SPAB Mills Section (1978-1984), Chairman of TIMS (1977 - 1993), and laterly a Trustee of the Mills Archive (of which his considerable collection is a Founding Collection).

There is a full biography which he wrote a few years ago available from the Mills Archive (though unfortunately it is a relatively inaccessible Word Document).

Photo by Luke Bonwick, 2005, currently used without specific permission

Mills on the English Heritage register of Builds at Risk

• Northfield Windmill, The Shades, Soham, East Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire. Originally C18 drainage mill for the neighbouring Fen, relocated during 1830s to present position and converted to a corn mill. Six-sided timber framed smock mill. Has machinery but the cap is deformed, leaking badly and will not turn to wind. Owner is putting temporary repairs in place.
• Downfield Windmill, Fordham Road, Soham, East Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire. Windmill originally built in 1726, raised in 1860 and much rebuilt following storm in 1889. Machinery substantially complete, but condition deteriorating. In need of general repairs, and reinstatement of sails and other missing parts of the structure. Architects consulted and prepared schedule of works. Owner continuing with joinery repairs. English Heritage still offering informal guidance on procedures.
• Doolittle Mill, Totternhoe, Central Bedfordshire. Wind and watermill, C18. Roofing works have been undertaken, but further repair is still needed.
• Small multivallate hillfort and tower mill on Shackleton Beacon Hill, Heighington, Darlington.
• Argos Hill Windmill, Argos Hill, Mayfield, Wealden, East Sussex. Post mill suffering from lack of maintenance and scaffolded.
• Upminster Windmill, St Mary's Lane, Upminster, Havering, Greater London. Smock mill 1803, retaining original machinery, to be restored as a working mill. A building preservation trust has been established, and recording of the mill machinery has been grant aided by English Heritage. Repairs to sails, damaged in recent storms, have been completed.
• Base of Windmill at Mill House, Windmill Road, Merton, Greater London. Brick with timber framing comprising base of hollow-post windmill. Located within the car park of Windmill Public House with its timber superstructure exposed to the elements. The new owners have engaged the services of a conservation architect; a scheme for repair of the timber framework is being prepared in consultation with timber conservation specialist.
• Sneaths Mill, Lutton Gowts, Lutton, South Holland, Lincolnshire. Octagonal brick tower windmill, 1779. Unique in Lincolnshire and the oldest surviving tower mill in the county. Ceased to work in the 1930s and emergency repairs carried out in 1992. The whole building is deteriorating steadily. Urgent Works Notice being considered.
• Sutton Mill, New Road, Sutton, North Norfolk, Norfolk. Tower mill of 1789. Restored in 1976-85. Since then however there has been a lack of maintenance and the mill is not watertight. Urgent repairs are now necessary but some repairs have been carried out to the Cap. Museum has now closed. Some discussion of possible redevelopment of the site ongoing.
• Hibaldstow Mill and walls to mill pond and wheel race, Ings Lane, Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire. Combined wind and watermill, 1802, by James Middleton of Hibaldstow. Recent repair, but further work required to both exterior and interior.
• North Leverton Windmill, North Leverton, North Leverton with Habblesthorpe, Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire. Tower Mill, dated 1813, raised 1884. Unique example of mill paid for by local private subscription and retained in continuous working use. Retains remarkable set of original machinery. Sails, cap and outer coating now suffering from decay, and repairs required. Charitable owner has applied to English Heritage for grant assistance.
• Hawkstone Windmill, Hawkstone Park, Weston under Redcastle, Shropshire. Late C18 windmill located on western boundary of registered park. Temporary roof erected in August 1996. Condition is getting worse. The building is associated with Hawkstone Hall, early to mid C18, and a mid to late C18 landscape, with park and lakes by William Emes and remarkable folly landscape, 1km south-west of the Hall. Landscape is generally in good condition, but much of park is now a golf course.
• Drinkstone Post Mill, Woolpit Road, Drinkstone, Mid Suffolk, Suffolk. C16/C17 post mill, part of the Drinkstone Mills conservation area containing circa 1790 smock mill and other buildings associated with nearly 400 years of milling activity. The buck has been repaired but the round house and other elements are in need of attention as the roof to the round house leaks and the walls require limited consolidation. The owners are currently undertaking some urgent maintenance work.
• Windmill, Great Thurlow, St Edmundsbury, Suffolk. Early C19 octagonal timberframed and weatherboard smock mill complete with milling machinery. Areas of water ingress to the structure.
• Friston Post Mill, Mill Road, Friston, Suffolk Coastal, Suffolk. One of the finest, and possibly tallest post mill in the United Kingdom. Built in 1812 and operational until 1956. Restored in 1976; temporary supports added 2004; post out of alignment and trestle fractured and now in need of urgent and permanent repair.
• Berkswell Windmill, Berkswell, Solihull, West Midlands. Early C18 tower windmill. Red brick with wood and metal boat-shaped cap. Machinery largely intact. Probably the most complete example of a west midlands tower mill. In need of new roof covering, repointing and extensive repairs to collar supporting the cap. English Heritage grant offered towards repairs and work is now underway.

Brill windmill official reopening

Brill windmill has been undergoing an extensive restoration, which has included knocking down and rebuilding the roundhouse, reinstating the original rear steps, new weatherboarding, and a set of white painted sails. Whilst the mill will not be properly open until mid-August or so, the official "reopening" ceremony was on Thur 9th July 2009. There was also a reopening party held on Sunday 12th July - with a beer tent on the common, and the roundhouse was open so the work there could be inspected.

There are a good number of photos showing the new appearance of the mill on Flickr.

The Dalston Mill

Part of Barbican Art Gallery's current exhibition Radical Nature - Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009, the experimental architectural collective EXYZT has created The Dalston Mill, turning a disused railway line and waste ground in Dalston into a vibrant rural retreat for the people of the area and beyond.

The fully-functioning, 16 metre mill is accompanied by a 20 metre long wheat field, a restaging of environmental artist Agnes Denes' original 1982 pioneering piece.

More coverage from Dan Lepard, in The Guardian.