Cley Windmill

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Cley Windmill
Windmill
Cley Windmill
Country	England
State	Norfolk
Region	East of England
District	North Norfolk
Municipality	Cley next the Sea

Location	Village of Cley next the Sea

Material	Brickwork and Timber

Founded	c1819

Visitation	Privately Owned but is let out


Map Ref: TG04494404

Cley Windmill is located in the village of Cley next the Sea in the English county of Norfolk ^[1]. The mill stands on the seaward side of the A149 coast road that runs through the heart of the Village^[2].The windmill is on the western bank of the River Glaven and is 1408 yards from the sea shore which is north of the mill.

1 Description
2 History
3 The James Blunt Connection
4 Norfolk Icon
5 References

[edit] Description

It is thought that Cley windmill was built in 1791 by William Farthing. The tower is built from red brick and has 5 storeys. The cap has an Octagonal dome shape with a ball finial on top. Around the base of the cap there is a petticoat and the cap also has a gallery and 8 bladded left hand fantail. The sails consisted of 4 double shuttered sails, the inner pair having 8 bays of 3 shutters and the outer pair having 9 bays of 2 shutters and 1 bay of 3 shutters. The sails that are seen today were installed in 1960 and were renovated in 1987 by John Lawn & John Bond. Around the second floor is a stage. In 1891 the sails powered two pairs of French burr stones, a flour mill and jumper but by 1876 this had been increased to 3 pairs of stones and a smut machine had been added.

[edit] History

The windmill remained the property of the Farthing family until 1875 when it was acquired by the miller, Stephen Barnabas Burroughs. From 1875 the mill passed through the hands of many Burroughs family members. The windmill finally ceased milling in 1921 and was sold by the Burroughs to Mrs Sarah Maria Wilson for the sum of £350 and she converted the mill to a Holiday Home. At this time all the machinery was removed and the cap and the sails were fixed. Eventually the mill was inherited by Col. Hubert Blount in 1934. Colonel Blount was most alarmed to find that his mill was under 8 to 9 feet of water after the great flood that followed the North Sea storm surge of January 1953. In 1960 Colonel Blount had the sails replaced. Colonel Hubert Blount died in 1976 and the Windmill was inherited by Colonel Charles Blount and his family. In 1983 Charles Blount gained planning consent to turn the mill and complex into a guesthouse and self catering units. In 2006 the windmill was put up for sale for the sum of £1,500,000^[3] . Today the mill is still run as a Bed and Breakfast ^[4].

[edit] The James Blunt Connection

The musician and songwriter James Blunt ^[5] , (originally Blount) Mother and father are Colonel Charles and Jane Blount who ran the windmill as a Bed and Breakfast from 1983 until 2005. The Windmill had been passed down in James Blunt's family since the 1920's

[edit] Norfolk Icon

Cley windmill has become one of the endearing Icons of North Norfolk. Its image has been used on everything from tea towels through to greetings cards, tins of biscuits and fudge to advertising between programs for the BBC. In October of 1998 the BBC’s world Logo was replaced with a balloon seen flying over, initially, ten different locations in the UK, including Snowdon, the Forth Rail Bridge and Canary Wharf. Included as one of the locations was Cley Windmill. The films apparently cost £500 000 to make.

[edit] References

^ OS Explorer Map 24” – Norfolk Coast Central. ISBN 0 319 21726 4
^ The Norfolk Windmill Trust, Windmills to Visit Guide. 3rd Edition 1982. Page 24, The Morris Printing Co Ltd 57-61 Pitt Street Norwich, Discription & Location Details
^ Eastern Daily Press, Tuesday December 19th 2006, Article on the mills Sale.
^ [1]Website for the Bed and Breakfast at the Windmill
^ Eastern Daily Press, Tuesday December 19th 2006, Article on the James Blunt Connection.