We have to notice the erection, in the neighbourhood of Christchurch, of a windmill, the framework and machinery of which was lately imported by Mr. W. D. Wood, in the "Westminster." It forms a conspicuous object upon the Plains, and indicates how the beauty of Christchurch would be improved by the erection of lofty buildings, whether churches with spires, factories with chimneys, or mills that go by wind. This is the second and much improved attempt in this Province to use the power of our regular breezes for grinding purposes.The first attempt referred to would have been Mountfort's windmill, Heathcote, built 3 years previous.
This was followed up by more notes in Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 402, 10 September 1856, Page 6
The new windmill, near Christchurch, which we mentioned only a few weeks ago as being in course of building, has now arrived so near completion as to have begun working. The driving machinery is well adapted to these Plains, as the sails are so constructed as to take in cloth when the wind rises. The internal machinery also, we understand, is calculated to turn out the finest description of work. This advantage will, no doubt, tend to raise the value of Canterbury flour in the markets of the neighbouring colonies.
Severe Gale. - For a considerable time past, the wind has been blowing from the N.W., with few intervals and more than usual violence; causing floods in all the rivers which are affected by the melting snow. Friday morning last was calm and sultry, but in the afternoon the wind rose from the same quarter, and in the evening increased to such a degree of violence as we have not experienced for years. The storm lasted during the night and the greater part of the next day, recurring in violent squalls during the whole period, until Saturday afternoon. The instances of damage done, of which we have accounts, are numerous, but we are happy to say that in no instance has any very great loss occurred. The schooner Flirt was capsized in Lyttelton harbour by a sudden shift of wind when, the storm was at its height. She was completely turned over, but was righted again the next morning, with little loss, having no cargo on board. Several thatched roofs have been partially stripped, and a few haystacks partially, or wholly dispersed. We are informed, also, that the new windmill, near Christchurch, has received some slight damage, though nothing but what is susceptible of easy repair.Within a short time there was no need to refer to the mill as the "new windmill" - there was clearly only one windmill in Christchurch that was worthy of the name: Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 466, 22 April 1857, Page 6
We understood that a new brewery is about to be established near Christchurch, by Mr. May, brewer, of Wellington. The site will be, we are told, in the neighbourhood of the windmill. Such an undertaking must encourage the growth of barley on the plains. Times are bad among the farmers, if we may judge from one circumstance. We hear that, at a meeting of the inhabitants of the Lincoln Road, it was agreed not to subscribe towards the building of a church nor towards a clergyman's stipend. The reason is alleged to be the hardness of the times from the low price of grain.
Markets.3 years later, the price of flour from this mill was much higher: Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 755, 1 February 1860
Very little or nothing having been of late done in the grain market, we have had no quotations of prices to report. A few sales having taken place within the last few days, we are enabled to quote new wheat at 4s. per bushel and old at 4s. 6d. The price of flour has fallen comparatively with the reduction in wheat. Average quality is now placed at £15 per ton. At the windmill, first flour is quoted at £16, and second at £14.
On Friday last, the first flour of the season was brought into market from Mr W. D. Wood's Windmill, at £26 per ton. The wheat was grown on the farm of Mr. R. Wright, near Riccarton.
TO be sold in one or more lots, twenty five acres of land, fronting the Town Belt and the Windmill Road. The property has a most substantially built house upon it, and is conveniently divided into three paddocks, two of which are surrounded with a high gorse fence.
For terms, apply to MR. HARMAN, Christchurch.
The list of militiamen for 1860-61 listed a number of millers "residing within 15 miles of the Land Office at Christchurch", including Wood, being the only resident so listed of Windmill road: A-E E-L L-S L-S or as a consolidated PDF.
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Edward Ashby, Lower Lincoln Road, miller
Arthur Cole, Avon Mill, miller
James Kerr, Avon Mill, writing clerk
Daniel Inwood, Cashel street, Christchurch, miller
George Thomas Inwood, Cashel street, Christchurch, miller
James Inwood, Cashel street, Christchurch, miller
William Inwood, Cashel street, Christchurch, miller
William Saunders, Durham street, Christchurch, miller
Daniel Slater, Tuam street, Christchurch, millwright
Edward Steggall, Kaiapoi, miller
William Tuckerman Stephens, Avon mill, miller
Sydney Burrows Stiffe, Avon mill, commission agent
Willian Derisley Wood, Windmill road, Christchurch, miller
Richard Woodfrod, Kaiapoi, miller
The road to the windmill clearly became unpassable in the winter of 1861, so the road was closed for months for repair:
Lyttelton Times, Volume XV, Issue 899, 22 June 1861
PUBLIC NOTICE.The same notice was repeated many times, with its last publication being in Lyttelton Times, Volume XVI, Issue 920, 4 September 1861.
WINDMILL ROAD. THE Public are hereby informed that the road from Wood's Mill Gateway, as far as the Town Belt, is stopped for dray traffic, and will be re-opened as soon as sufficient metal has been laid to render it passable.
THOS. WM. MAUDE, Provincial Secretary. Provincial Secretary's Office, June 19, 1861.
TO DITCHERS AND EXCAVATORS.
TENDERS are invited for the cutting of a Mill Race at Riccarton, near Hagley Park. Further information may be obtained by applying to me at the Windmill, where Plans and Specifications of the work may be seen. Tenders to be sent in, on or before the 6th December next.
The lowest or any other tender will not necessarily be accepted.
W. D. WOOD.
Windmill, Christchurch, Nov. 27.
FOR SALE,A sale was not immediate - the same ad appeared through at least March the following year.
THAT compact freehold valuable property, situate at Christchurch, and known as THE WINDMILL, comprising about two Acres of Land, Dwellinghouse, Granary, Stables, Cart-shed, &c. &c.
THE MILL is fitted with patent self-adjusting sails and shifting windlass, drives two pair four-feet French-burr mill stones, dressing machinery, hoisting-tackle, &c. The building and machinery are nearly new; were made by one of the best English makers, and are in good order and preservation; in full work, and doing a good trade; is situate in a good business part of the town, and within a short distance of the proposed railway station.
The mill can be removed and newly erected in time for next harvest, if required, and, if preferred, will be sold separately; it is therefore well worthy of the attention of parties at Timaru, Oamaru, Saltwater Creek, &c. The machinery, can be easily applied to water or steam auxiliary power.
For further particulars, apply to W. D. WOOD, Miller, Christchurch;
H. J. LeCREN, Timaru;
DALGETY, RATTRAY & Co., Dunedin and Oamaru.
Changes were also happening in his private life, with the birth of a daughter Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 960, 22 January 1862
BIRTH.
WOOD — Jan. 18, at the Windmill, Christchurch, the wife of Mr. W. D. Wood, of a daughter.
TOWNSHIP OF LEITHFIELD, ON THE KOWAIIt appears that the purchase price was £1000 Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVIII, Issue 1640, 23 October 1862
The Windmill now on the Windmill road, Christchurch, has been purchased by the proprietor, and arrangements are being made for its immediate erection on a capital site; and already there are a butcher, blacksmith, shoemaker, and post-office, beside Mr. Leith's well known comfortable accommodation house, established within the township, and the line of railway to the north runs within a short distance of it.
CANTERBURY. - October 9The windmill was removed by the building partnership of Anderson and Sharp, with Ashworth acting as the carrier, over the 1862/63 summer, when the roads would have been at their best, but suprisingly it seems to have gone unreported in the newspapers of the time. By March 1863 property ads were using copy referring to "where the windmill formerly stood" Lyttelton Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1077, 7 March 1863
Mr H E Alport reports sales at Christchurch market as follows — 1 black gelding £45, 1 bay mare, £35, 1 pack bullock, £22, 1 milch cow, £11, 1 ditto and calf £16, small pigs, 16s to 21s each, fowls. 4s 6d to 6s a couple, flour, £12 per ton.
Messrs Aikman and Wilson, among recent sales, report the following, viz — Windmill for £1000, 251 cattle (mixed) at £7 per head, 1 acre town reserves for £200. remaining sections of Christchurch East at £37 10s per quarter acre — Canterbury Standard.
ANTIGUA STREET SOUTH, OR WINDMILL ROAD - A Section of nearly one acre to be sold, situated just opposite where the windmill formerly stood. No. 68Whilst the wooden smock of the mill was moved, any brick base was probably left on site, and that this auction containing bricks and superior flour may both relate to the old mill site Lyttelton Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1087, 11 April 1863
PRELIMINARY NOTICE.Once a sale date was fixed, the later notice makes it even clearer that these bricks are on the windmill site Lyttelton Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1089, 18 April 1863
MESSRS. W. and N. JOYNT beg to announce that, having succeeded in procuring accommodation for carrying on their business in CHRISTCHURCH as AUCTIONEERS, they will on an early date submit to public competition A LARGE AND VARIED ASSORTMENT OF GOODS,
Consisting of:— About thirty tons of very superior flour.
A quantity of sugar
10 qr-casks of sherry
3 hhds ditto
1 spring cart, will carry from 12 to 15 cwt of goods
400 gallons kerosine
8,000 bricks, more or less, to be seen on the Windmill Road, adjoining Mr. Wood's residence. (Unreserved.)
An assortment of drapery, boots and shoes, and a quantity of useful stores, particulars of which will appear in future advertisements.
The Sale will take place at the rear of their new office, COLOMBO STREET, Adjoining Thompkin's Railway Chop House.
CHRISTCHURCH.
SATURDAY, APRIL 25.
Sale of Baker's Flour, Groceries, Oilmen's Stores, Sherry, a variety of Fancy Goods, Spring Cart, &c., &c., &c.
MESSRS. W. & N. JOYNT will Sell by Public Auction, on Saturday, April 25, at the rear of their new offices, in Colombo street, Christchurch, adjoining Thompkins' Chop House, —
30 tons superior flour, in lots to suit purchasers
1 ton Mauritius sugar
10 qr.-casks sherry
3 hlids. sherry
200 galls, kerosene oil
20 cases geneva
A variety of fancy goods, work boxes, writing desks, clocks, vases
Toys of various descriptions, carpeting
1 superior spring cart, strongly built
8,000 bricks (more or less), to be seen on the site of the windmill, next to Mr. Wood's residence
And a quantity of useful stores, too numerous to particularise.
Sale at 11 o'clock. Terms at Sale.
Luncheon provided.
Christchurch Paradoxes. — A city and bishop without a cathedral. A town clock without a face. A clock tower lying about (in bits). A clock face without a clock. A market-place without a market. A windmill road without a windmill. A custom-house staff without a port. Two squares each oblong. A public park reserved for private use. A Government domain unused by Government. Volunteer soldiers paid by the State. A gold escort without gold.The list went on, presumably making political points, having originally been published in the Canterbury Standard.
Perhaps people were feeling the loss of the windmill - one ad amalgamated the old and new road names Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 1738, 12 July 1866
WOODBURN NURSERY, ANTIGUA STREET SOUTH, (Windmill Road), CHRISTCHURCH.but clearly others definitely considered the two roads as separate: Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2025, 18 June 1867
Letters were read from the following persons : From Messrs Dalwood and Thompson, calling attention to the state of the road between the Windmill road and Antigua street. This matter was referred to the surveyor.More mixing: Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2302, 9 May 1868
FOR SALE BY PRIVATE TREATY. ABOUT 1 ACRE of FREEHOLD LAND, part of Town Reserves Lot No. 48, having 2 chains frontage upon Antigua street (known as the Windmill road), Christchurch. For particulars apply to WILSON & ALPORT.but also more separation: Press, Volume XVII, Issue 2300, 6 September 1870
Letter from Mr J Rowley, complaining of the unhealthy state of the Windmill road, near Antigua street, through defective drain. It was resolved that the work be completed as soon as the weather would permit.
JUBILEE EXHIBITION.
The Exhibits
... Passing on, the visitor is brought face to face with a bay that cannot fail to awaken interest, inasmuch as it is, in itself an, object-lesson in the history of flour-milling, as well as of that of Canterbury. But first let the dresser of the bay be complimented on his pretty and loyal decorations of red, white and blue that top the whole, and cover gracefully a wreath made of wheat taken from the sheaf, garlanded with red poppies. Prominent in the bay is that portion of it which makes it historical, and emphatically marks off in the industry of milling the old and the new, and the time when Canterbury was content with flour milled by primitive methods, from to-day, when nothing but the most advanced methods will suffice. Here is the photograph of an ancient windmill, one of the first in Canterbury, which in 1856 began to grind wheat for the pilgrims. Beside it is one of the stones used in the process, and athwart its rugged face is laid an old hacker (the steel adze that was used to roughen that face and give it a surface that would be effective in the work of pulverisation). The old tool has had a new handle, and is gala-dressed in a way it never was during the days it served the turn of the dusty miller. On the other side of the bay there are three of the rollers that have taken the place of the millstone, and their corrugated surfaces show at a glance how the work is done, the wheat passing under first a roller with coarse corrugations, thence under one of medium roughness, and on to the next, which reduces the wheat to fine flour. Of course, further degrees of fineness are procured, and dressings are given by sieves of fine silk, but for the purposes of comparison the millstone and the rollers are sufficient to give point to the legend streaming overhead in golden letters, "The old order changeth, giving place to new." Then there are samples of wheat shown - Hunter’s White, Duluth, Pearl and Tuscan - samples, also, of pollard, sharps, flour, bran, coarse semolina, fine semolina, porridge meal, and rolled meal.
"SHORT CUT" FOR AVONThey did wait till 1956 to actually claim the centenary itself! Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27901, 24 February 1956, Page 5
Proposal of 1860 Recalled
CENTENNIAL PUBLICATION OF MILLING FIRM
"The River Avon would be flowing to-day along Rolleston Avenue instead of making its detour through Hagley Park if a scheme of the late Mr W. D. Wood's had come to fruition. Soon after he had established his windmill, when he was planning to expand his business, he began investigating the possibilities of using the Avon to drive a water mill in the vicinity of the present Antigua street, footbridge. About 1860 he requested permission of the Town Council to make a cut in the river from about the present Armagh street bridge along Rolleston avenue to the footbridge, to provide a more rapid fall. They city fathers, however, hedged their consent with such exacting conditions that Mr Wood dropped the idea."
This anecdote is told in a centennial booklet published by Wood Brothers, Ltd., flourmillers. Mr W. D. Wood, the founder of the firm, imported machinery from England, and set up Canterbury's first windmill in Christchurch in 1856. "The business he founded later used water, steam, and electricity successively as the motive force for milling," says the booklet. "The use of four kinds of power gives the history of the technical development of the business a distinctive character.”Move from "Windmill Road"
The booklet records that the windmill (a drawing of which is reproduced in colour on the cover) stood on or near the site of the Crown Brewery in Antigua street, which was for many years known as Windmill road. A water mill on the Avon at Riccarton began operation in 1862. "This mill, with considerable modifications has been in operation ever since," says the booklet. Steam was first used by the firm about 1880, turbines of 40 horse-power doubling the mill's output. The firm moved to its present site at Addington in 1891. Steam was used to drive the larger plant at Addington until 1916. Since the introduction of electricity in the mill, says the booklet, the factory has been continually brought up to date, although machinery replaced as recently as 1948 had been in use since before the turn of the century. "For 94 years the business has been substantially owned and controlled by members of Mr W. D. Wood's family.” says a section on the administration and staff of the business. Mr Geoffrey H. Wood, the present chairman of directors, is a grandson of the founder. The present capacity of the mill, says the booklet, is 50 sacks an hour - 100 times the capacity of the original windmill.
Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27901, 24 February 1956, Page 9CHRISTCHURCH MILLING FIRM'S CENTENARY. The flour milling firm of Wood Brothers, Ltd., is celebrating its centenary this week. Shown above is the windmill erected by Mr W. D. Wood in 1856 in what is now Antigua street. The sketch is thought to be the work of Mr Wood himself. The windmill was the first to be set up on the Canterbury Plains. It was later moved to Leithfield, where it was a landmark for many years.
100 YEARS IN BUSINESS: MILLING FIRM'S RECORD
One hundred years of flourmilling in Christchurch is being celebrated this week by Wood Brothers. Ltd., Addington, New Zealand's oldest milling firm. The celebrations, which will include functions for members of the Wood family and for the staff, are being held in the same week as the annual meeting of shareholders. The firm is one of the few businesses founded in Canterbury in the 1850's which is still owned and managed by descendants of the founder. The present manager and chairman of the company is Mr Geoffrey Wood, a grandson of Mr W. D. Wood, who brought from England Canterbury's first windmill. Five of Mr W. D. Wood's sons served on the board after the firm was formed into a limited liability company in 1892: of these Mr Charles Wood - now aged 93 - survives and retains a seat on the board. The march of industrial progress through the last century is portrayed in miniature by the history of this firm. Wind as a source of power to turn the millstones was replaced in 1862 by water, when a site on the Avon - now occupied by another milling firm - was chosen. In 1880 steam power was first used, and electricity was installed in the Addington mill in 1916. Roller mills, the forerunner of modern milling machinery, replaced the traditional grinding stones in 1889.Capacity Increased 100 Times
The capacity of the mill today is 100 times that of the 1856 Whitmore and Binyon windmill, which ground half a sack an hour. The horse and dray which carted wheat to the windmill in Antigua street - known in those days as Windmill road - has long since been replaced by railway waggons, shunted on to the firm's own siding, and by motor lorries. Mr W. D. Wood first arrived at Lyttelton in the Randolph, one of the First Four Ships. He paid a brief visit to England in 1855, married there, and brought a windmill. With his wife he returned to New Zealand, arriving at Lyttelton in the barque Oriental on April 12. The machinery for his mill arrived on April 16 on the Westminster and was assembled and erected by the owner with little skilled help. The first flour ground by the mill was produced on August 25. Mr Wood was no stranger to the milling industry, for his family operated a water mill at Great Blakenham, Suffolk (which was operated until 1928 when it was burnt out). But there were many problems which his experience of milling in England - where millwrights and skilled labour were always available - could not solve for him. He had to train his own labour and, according to family legend, Mrs Wood helped with the sewing of flour bags in the early days of the mill. By the 1870's, when "Wood's mill" on the Avon was already a familiar feature of the Christchurch landscape, the flourmilling business was highly competitive. There were many small firms milling wheat and each miller would drive around the countryside at harvest time bargaining with farmers for their wheat, as well as striving for the custom of the growing town's bakers and housewives. In the difficult trading conditions up till the end of the 19th century Mr Wood's early training in England and his hard-won experience as a pioneer of the industry in the colony stood him in good stead; of the numerous milling businesses begun before the end of the 'seventies only Mr Wood's survived into the 1950's.Fifty Years in Christchurch
"The fast thinning ranks of the pioneers were still further depleted when Mr W. D. Wood, a very old colonist, passed away." said "The Press," reporting the death, in 1904, of Mr Wood. He had become well known in the town through business connexions during his 50 years' residence, and through his activities as a city councillor and a member of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. His memory is preserved today by Wood lane, a small street off Fendalton road which was once the drive to his home.
The Christchurch Golf Club's links stand on land which was farmed by Mr Wood - in partnership with Mr William Chisnail - in 1852 and 1953. On this course is played each year, in the week-end nearest December 16 (the date of the arrival of the Randolph a match for the Randolph Cup, which was given by the son of Mr W. D. Wood.
One of the functions being held this week will be virtually a family reunion. It will be attended by about 25 descendants, mostly of the third and fourth generations, of Mr W. D. Wood, with their wives or husbands, and by directors outside the family.
Simon Wood will be greatly missed. He was a longstanding friend and supporter of the Society. His interest in Ferrymead began with his passion for building a replica working windmill as a landmark and key feature at Ferrymead. This windmill was to be a recreation of the windmill originally constructed in Antigua Street by his great-grandfather, a flour miller. In those days, Antigua Street was known as Windmill Road. This windmill was later dismanded and taken to Leithfield where it was erected on the high ridge behind the town to help it to capture every breeze. Sadly, Simon's dream of a working windmill at Ferrymead remains unrealised. The signal tower on Wood Hill (named after Simon) was placed there at his instigation to provide a framework on which to build this windmill.[details] [details] [photo] [info] [info] [photo] [info] [photo]
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