Sawtry windmill sold at auction 🌍

The converted windmill at Gidding Rd, Swatry has sold via an online auction. I don't often link to mills for sale, for a number of reasons, including the fact that the sales particulars go offline very quickly, and so the links are very fragile. I've experimented a bit here - I've used the Internet Archive to archive the sales page, and linked to its archive page.

It's not perfect - the archive page tries to load the bidding panel, and that just sits there spinning, the map preview does not appear, and the slideshow is inoperable. For the record, with a guide price of £320,000, there were 3 bidders, and the price went up in £5000 increments, with the final price on 2nd Sept 2026 being £350,000. (On top of that there were charges of approximately another £3000.)

I'd not spotted it before, but before going to auction, the property was for sale via estate agents. The Google Streetview imagery from June 2026 shows a William H Brown sales board at the property.

From an aesthetic point of view, the conversion is pretty unattractive. This was a smock mill, and the retained smock tower has had huge windows inserted into it, and also in to the base. These are only on the sides of the tower that face away from the attached house. The smock is topped of with an 8 sided sloping roof, rather than a windmill cap. The auction particular photos show a vacant property (presumably why it went to auction), and the empty rooms show that no machinery was retained in the conversion. (Yes, one of the reasons I have an interest in sales particulars of converted mills is that the photos included can provide a rare opportunity to see the interiors of otherwise inaccessible mills).