Work progressing on Thaxted windmill

Following the situation last year where bricks were falling from the unsafe tower of Thaxted windmill, a major renovation programme, costing around £120,000 is now well underway.

The work is essentially to reconstruct the top of the tower, by rebuilding the top few feet of brickwork. This has required the sails to be removed, and the cap which weighs many tonnes lifted off whole. In turn, this required construction of a temporary road, so that the crane could reach the site.

The state of the work is currently that the contractors, Noble and Taylor, have rebuilt the brickwork, and much of the curb, though the roller bearing on which the cap rotates is still on the ground, as is the structure of the cap itself.