Other Post Mills

Bloxham Grove Mill
Bloxham Grove Road,
Bloxham Grove,
Bloxham
Oxfordshire
OX15 4DR

Grid Reference – SP 456 366
OS Sheet – 191

The one-third scale post mill at Bloxham Grove Farm was constructed ‘as a memorial to all windmills’ in 1865 by Henry Warriner, an enterprising engineer and the manager of the improving farm at Bloxham Grove. Restored in 2008, it survives in good condition and with its machinery intact.

Bourn Mill
Caxton Road
Bourn
CB23 2SU

Grid reference – TL 312 580
OS Sheet – 208

One of the oldest surviving post windmills in the country, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Working until 1926 and gifted to Cambridge Past, Present and Future (CambridgePPF) previously the Cambridge Preservation Society in 1932. The mill has been lovingly restored by CambridgePPF. It dates back to at least 1636, although it may be much earlier.

Bourn Mill provided inspiration for the work of one of our most eminent contemporary architects. Lord Foster prepared drawings of its elevations whilst studying architecture at Cambridge.

An open trestle post mill. The sails of the mill (two common and two patent) have to face squarely into the wind and to achieve this the entire mill is rotated around the central post

Brill Mill
South Hills,
Brill,
Aylesbury
HP18 9TQ

Grid Reference – SP 652 140.
OS Sheet – 180

With timbers dating from 1685, Brill Windmill provides one of the earliest and best preserved examples of a post mill (the earliest type of European windmill) in the UK. Management and ownership of the Grad II* listed mill was passed to Buckinghamshire County Council in 1947 who, through a number of major interventions, have ensured that the mill still stands today. In 1967 the Council installed a structural steel framework that helps to support the mill’s ancient timber frame but means that the mill is static and can no longer turn to face the wind. The Brill Windmill Management Group was established in 2007 to help plan a restoration project and to seek the necessary funds. With funding from English Heritage and WREN, full repair and preservation work was completed by July 2009. The mill is now structurally sound and once again open to the public, once a week, between March and September.

Photograph by Ben Webb

Chillenden Mill
Goodnestone,
Canterbury
CT3 1PP

Grid Reference – TR 268 543
OS Sheet – 179

Chillenden Mill is a white painted post mill with an open trestle, dating back to 1868. Based on a Dutch design the windmill is a well-known local landmark with an interesting history. One of only 3 similar types in the country it replaced an earlier post mill on the same site. The mill ceased regular work in 1949 and was preserved in the 1950s and, although restored many times since, it collapsed in a gale in November 2003. Happily it is now fully restored to its former glory.

Photograph by MJ Roots

Chinnor Mill
Whites Field,
Mill Lane,
Chinnor,
Oxfordshire,
OX39 4QU

Grid Reference – SP 749 010
OS Sheet – 165

Chinnor post mill dates from 1789, and is being rebuilt by volunteers in its new location after being demolished to make way for housing in 1967. It’s open to the public on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month, when new volunteers are also more than welcome to join and help with the ongoing restoration work.

Gransden Mill
Mill Road,
Great Gransden
Cambs
SG19 3AG

Grid Reference – TL 277 555
OS Sheet – 153

Great Gransden boasts the oldest post mill in England. It was constructed around 1612 and has two storeys, with a flour dressing machine, inscribed 1774, on the second floor. The mill last worked around 1890, and was given to the county council in 1950. In 1957, the post mill was classified as an ancient monument. By the 1970s, the sails had long gone but the stocks remained. A restoration project was completed in 1984, during which two common and two patent clockwise sails were installed.

Photograph Peter Hedges Collection

Nutley Mill
23 Farriers Way,
Uckfield,
East Sussex
TN22 5BY

Grid reference – TQ 451 291
OS Sheet – 135

Nutley Windmill is an open trestle post mill. She has two common sails and two spring sails carried on a cast iron windshaft and is winded by a tailpole. The mill drives two pairs of millstones, arranged head and tail. Restoration started in 1968. The mill turned by wind again in 1971, and ground grain again in 1972. The mill was damaged in the Great Storm of 1987, with over £6,000 worth of damage incurred. Repairs to the trestle and head wheel in 1998 allowed the head stones to be worked for the first time since the mill stopped work. New sails were fitted to the mill in 2008.

Photograph by David Brooker