Upminster mill reduced to two sails

Following the recent storms which broke one of the stocks at Upminster windmill, to make the structure safe, the broken sail and it's opposite pair have been removed, leaving the mill with just two sails.

The broken stock was sawn through to get it down, and once on the ground the sails have been sawn off - leaving just the bare stock. I'm not sure why that was done - perhaps that was seen as the best way to recover the shutters and metalwork that will be needed when new sails are produced. As well as breaking the sails themselves, the falling sail also caused damage to the cap and less so to the mill body. Part of the cap has been temporarily repaired, but more work will be needed. The spider which controlled the shutters in the sails is badly damaged, bent completely out of shape.