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GENERAL BACKGROUND TO THE WINDMILL ITSELF Take a step back in time when the bread that we eat was made from corn ground by the power of the wind. Experience the daily work of a miller who relied on the vagaries of the winds and see a genuine one-hundred-year-old mill. Add to your pleasure by visiting the Museum of Rural Life complete with its Victorian kitchen and pre-war parlour. Images\Map02.pdf Enjoy browsing around craft workshops or take a ride on the outstanding miniature railway and if you’re in need of refreshments, why not visit the restaurant or railway-carriage cafe? Waltham, a medium-sized village near Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, once had a smock mill with a bakery, and on an ideal site by the B1203 road there was a trestle-type postmill from 1666, which was blown down in 1744. Its replacement, a clunch mill with a boarded roundhouse, was blown down in a terrific gale in 1873. The present six-storied tower windmill was built in 1878-80 by John Saunderson of Louth using light-coloured local bricks and tarred. It had six double-sided patent sails and a traditional Lincolnshire ogee (onion-shaped) cap, but no balcony. The mill has two pairs of French millstones (for grinding flour) and 2 pairs of Derbyshire Peak stones (for grinding coarser materials such as animal feed). During the First World War one of the sails was lost, and the opposite one removed to balance it - timber was unavailable at the time to replace them. In the 1920’s the sails were reduced to single-sided sails. During the Second World War the mill was used as a Home Guard look-out post with a view over the River Humber, and had a narrow escape when the RAF wanted to demolish it as a hazard to aircraft. It was worked by wind until 1962, then operated for a while by electric engine, producing animal feed. In December 1966 Waltham Windmill Preservation Society was formed, and began the task of restoring the mill. The Society continues to raise funds for mill maintenance to this day. The present miller maintains the workings of the mill, six-sailed once more, and grinds best-quality grain to produce flour occasionally, wind permitting. ALSO ON SITE….. · Traditional Craft Shops · Miniature Railway (3.5 to 7.25 gauge) · The Herb Shop · Mac Millers Traditional Sweet Shop · Wood Turners Shop ROUTE TO THE WALTHAM WINDMILL Only 4 miles from the centre of both Grimsby & Cleethorpes, Waltham is so easy to find. Follow the A16 and B1203 from Grimsby and the A1098 from Cleethorpes, Waltham will be prominently signposted from either direction, for driving to the RAF Open Day on Sunday 13th, then please call 07990 950286 for directions onto the site, or for the latest information on the days events and timings… (INFORMATION COURTESY OF WWW.WALTHAMWINDMILL.CO.UK) |
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Air Show director.