Mill news and topical information - Archive page 9

Morgan Lewis Windmill grinding sugar cane again

Morgan Lewis Windmill, Barbados is once again in full working order and will be grinding sugar cane on the second Sunday of the month through to April 2004.

The mill is one of the biggest tourist attractions on the island, and a development plan exists to include a restaurant and farmer's market on the site.
Item: #224, Posted: 19/1/04.

Goldline sketch pad shows St Benet's Abbey

The current range of cartridge paper pads in the Goldline range shows a sample sketch of the unmistakable windmill tower incorporated into St Benet's Abbey.
Mills: [Horning]
Item: #223, Posted: 18/1/04.

Mapledurham mill appearance in Midsomer Murders

The Fisher King, an episode of Midsomer Murders broadcast on 11th January 2004 featured Mapledurham watermill as a location.
Item: #222, Posted: 18/1/04.

Power of the Wind Trail

A 600 mile tourist route from Oklahoma to Texas is being planned, to show tourists the many wind pumps that define the area. The route called the Power of the Wind Trail is the brainchild of officials in Lubbock (home of the American Wind Power Center), who have linked up with the other Texan cities of Plainview and Canyon, and the Oklahoman cities of Shattuck, Woodward, Elk City and Norman. The plan is to distribute up to 50,000 maps of the route, and to produce a CD and website to promote the trail. The CD will hold a spoken commentary, designed for in car listening, and should be ready for the end of May.

Update:[20/1/04] The website has gone live, using the name American Wind Power Trail.
Item: #221, Posted: 15/1/04.

How many windmills would $87 billion buy?

This opinion piece asks could the $87 billion approved for military support and rebuilding Iraq have been better spent. Based on calculations for an Oregan windfarm, the money would pay for 192,904 wind turbines, sufficient to produce a quarter of the US electricity needs.
Item: #220, Posted: 15/1/04.

Altamont Pass turbine owners taken to court over bird kills

A lawsuit was filed in San Francisco on 12th Jan by the Center for Biological Diversity against FPL Group and NEG Micon A/S. These two companies, based in Florida, and Denmark, own about half of the 5400 wind turbines on Altamont Pass. The claim is that these companies have not done enough to prevent the raptor bird kills that have historically been a problem in the areas windfarms.

There are plenty of other reports on the same story. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
See also:Item #190
Item: #219, Posted: 15/1/04.

Frank Medina's collection of American wind engines

Frank Medina, who is now 96, has been collecting American Aermotor windmills for around 30 years. He now only has about 60, but collected 2000 at the height of his collecting, earning him the title "The King of the Windmills". Much of his collection went to pay a divorce settlement. The collection is in Stockton, California.
Item: #218, Posted: 15/1/04.

American films showing windmills

The Movie Archive (part of The Internet Archive) has a number of films showing windmills.

Stunt compilation from 1918 shows people riding the sails of the Dutch windmill in Golden Gate Park, including footage shot by the cameraman as he went round on the sails.
San Francisco by the Golden Gate from 1932 also shows the Dutch Mill, and additionally the Murphy windmill at work near the end of the film.
The New York Worlds Fair from 1939-1940 shows a Dutch style mill rotating [about 11:30 minutes into the film].

A number of other films show windpumps, as part of the American rural backdrop.
Item: #217, Posted: 12/1/04.

Tallest and smallest windmills

I've updated my page on The Tallest Windmill, with some research provided by Michael Roots. By his calculation, Bixley windmill, of which a 7 storey stump remains, at its full height of 11 storeys would have been 127 feet to the curb.

At the other end of the size scale, I've just found a (representation of a) windmill that's just 70-microns high - thats a image that appears on a memory chip from Musical Semiconductors. There are 1000 microns to a millimetre, so the UK's tallest windmill was about 500,000 times as tall as this image.
Mills: [Bixley]
Item: #216, Posted: 11/1/04.

Thumbnails for visual preview of sites

There is now a version of DMOZ - Open Directory Project, which shows thumbnails of sites alongside the site listings. For an example, check out a search for windmills on the system.

I have updated my systems at WindmillWorld so that all links in my news items (including archived pages) will display a thumbnail if available.
Item: #215, Posted: 10/1/04.

The Sussex Mills Group website

There is a new website available for The Sussex Mills Group who have long had pages available via their parent organization The Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society.

The new site includes tables listing the windmills and watermills in the county, and many of the table entries are clickable, leading through to more details about the particular mills. There are also sections on mill locations and opening times, events, news and links, plus a forthcoming section concerning current research.
See also:Item #204
Item: #214, Posted: 10/1/04.

Regeneration of Zagare's windmill, Lithuania

The oldest windmill in Lithuania, and only remaining Dutch style one, is the 200 year old Zagares Malunas in the Zagare Regional Park on the country's northern border.

An British-Lithuania joint venture is currently converting the mill into a complex offering a bakery, a traditional Lithuanian restaurant, a function room for 60 also including historical displays, a bar, a sauna, a multi-media conference facility, and 6 bedrooms.

There is a larger photo of the mill and surroundings available.

Update: I've received some more details about the mill. It is devoid of internal machinery, and retains just one sail, with many shingles and shakes missing from the roof. However the tower is solidly build, and sound. The project is currently on hold, pending the completion of other projects by those involved.
Item: #213, Posted: 10/1/04.

Heage windmill features on You and Yours

On 2nd December 2003, the BBC Radio 4 programme You and Yours included a feature on Heage windmill. You can listen to the recording.

Heage windmill is the only working 6 sailed tower mill in the UK. The programme included interviews with Alan Gifford, the local windmill expert, and John Boucher, the mill's consultant millwright. The mill was purchased by Derbyshire County Council in 1967 for £300, when it was a virtual wreck. A superficial esthetic restoration was then carried out. However locals wanted more, and eventually a full restoration was considered. Although various grants were obtained for the mill itself, the £400,000 project also needed money to work on a drying kiln and visitor centre, and to bring an access road and services to the mill, which are not eligible under many grant schemes. The Landfill Tax Credit Scheme helped provide the answer, since their grants are available for eligible ancillary projects, and the Managing Director of WREN who administer the tax money explained a little more about the scheme.

WREN grants also have helped a number of other mill restorations, including Polkey's Mill in Norfolk.
Mills: [Heage]
Item: #212, Posted: 10/1/04.

Skidby Windmill Goes Interactive

A new series of interactive exhibits have been produced at Skidby windmill, as a result of a £32,000 Heritage Lottery Grant covering 90% if the expense, topped up with money from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

The exhibits include a weighing machine, pulleys, a wind turbine, a big jigsaw of the mill past and present, plus historical costumes, and real and replica historical objects. The exhibits are aimed especially at young children, but aim to also appeal to older ones and adults.
Mills: [Skidby]
Item: #211, Posted: 9/1/04.

French windmill summer retreat

Photographer Didier Veysset has a windmill in his back garden in France. The tower mill is about 200 years old, and used to provide the flour for the bakery down the hill, which in turn provided bread to the chateau up the hill. The mill was renovated over a period of 10 years by Didier's grandfather, who needed a project when he retired. Now the tower is arranged as a summer retreat, with a lounge and open fire on the ground floor, a kitchen and dining area on the first, and a bedroom at the top. The bathroom is in an outbuilding.
Item: #210, Posted: 9/1/04.

Eskdale miller invokes "right to buy"

David King, miller/manager of the 16th Century Boot Mill at Eskdale, which Cumbria County Council has offered for sale via sealed bids, is to have a court hearing at Whitehaven on Monday, 12th Jan 2004, over his claim that he should be able to buy the mill cottage where he lives with his wife Chiko and two young sons. David thinks that he is entitled to this under the "right to buy" legislation, and would then be able to keep the mill going.

Other bids for the mill include one from the Eskdale Mill and Heritage Trust, and from Boot Mill and Educational Trust (which plans to turn the mill into a micro-brewery and distillery).
See also:Item #118
Item: #209, Posted: 9/1/04.

A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania

This photographic journey through Durham Township has a good set of photos of The Volendam Windmill, Holland Township, taken on a chilly December day.
Item: #208, Posted: 9/1/04.

Country Days and Country Ways in times gone by

This collection of images, mostly from old postcards has pages showcasing windmills in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Lincolnshire and watermills in South East England, Lincolnshire, and elsewhere. Some of the location identifications are a bit suspect, but it's a useful collection none the less. These pages are part of the Southern Railway UK site, and there are many more pictures of mills to be found on the pages dedicated to individual railway destinations.
Item: #207, Posted: 7/1/04.

Kent windmills leaflet for 2004

The Kent windmills leaflet for 2004 is now available online. It contains full contact details, locations and opening times. It has even been updated with the unfortunate news of the collapse of Chillenden mill.
Mills: [Chillenden]
Item: #206, Posted: 7/1/04.

Ecclesden windmill tower renovations

The house converted windmill tower of Ecclesden windmill, Angmering, Sussex has been undergoing renovations for a number of months. A planning application in April 2003 revealed plans for a new cap, and dummy sails, whilst the major works so far have been to cover the tower in cedar shingles, to keep it watertight.
Mills: [Angmering]
Item: #205, Posted: 6/1/04.

Sussex mill events for 2004

Updated events calendars listing events for 2004 are available from The Sussex Mills Group, High Salvington windmill, and Nutley windmill.
Mills: [High Salvington] [Nutley]
Item: #204, Posted: 6/1/04.

Wendy's Windmill Walk

Wilton Windmill features in the photo's of Wendy's Windmill Walk.
Mills: [Great Bedwyn]
Item: #203, Posted: 6/1/04.

Laxey Wheel 150th Anniversary Exhibition

The Lady Isabella wheel at Laxey, Isle of Man celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. To mark this Manx National Heritage are holding an major exhibition on the history of the Laxey Mines at the Manx Museum from April - September 2004.

Staff at the museum are hoping to borrow photos and items for the exhibition, in particular miners' personal effects, and the miners' tallies used by the shift foremen to record the number of miners underground, which the museum do not have an example of.

The celebrations kicked of with a free illustrated lecture given by Andrew Scarffe titled "The Great Laxey Wheel" on 21st Now 2003, and he will be a producing a book on the subject this year. The wheel itself has been undergoing maintenance and repainting work, to ensure that she looks her finest for her birthday on 24th Sept 2004.
Item: #202, Posted: 6/1/04.

Batemans Brewery speciality beers for 2004

Batemans, the Wainfleet brewers have a windmill logo - since their brewery includes the historic windmill tower the image is based on. As well as celebrating the season with a festive photo of the windmill on their home page, they have also released a list of this year's speciality beers.
Mills: [Wainfleet All Saints]
Item: #201, Posted: 6/1/04.

Little Chute, Wisconsin planning windmill construction

The Dutch settlement area of Little Chute, Wisconsin, has firmed up plans to construct an authentic Dutch windmill in the village. Residents formed Little Chute Windmill Inc. in mid 2002, and are expecting to award the $1.2 million contract to Verbij Hoogmade B.V. the Dutch millwrights. Construction could start in a couple of years, and take 18 months to complete, on a site on West Main Street near the Public Library and Civic Center. Around $35,000 of the costs have so far been raised, with a major fund raiser planned this month.

Update:[9/2/04] After meeting with Verbij Hoogmade, the committee have chosen the windmill design.
Item: #200, Posted: 6/1/04.

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Last updated 19th March 2008