Bursledon Windmill

Bursledon Windmill
Hampshire's only working windmill
Origin
Mill name	Bursledon Mill
Grid reference	SU 482 108
Coordinates	50°53′42″N 1°18′54″W / 50.894916°N 1.315001°W / 50.894916; -1.315001Coordinates: 50°53′42″N 1°18′54″W / 50.894916°N 1.315001°W / 50.894916; -1.315001
Operator(s)	Hampshire County Council
Year built	1814
Information
Purpose	Corn mill
Type	tower mill
Storeys	Five storeys
Number of sails	Four sails
Type of sails	Common sails
Windshaft	Wood
Winding	Hand winded via chain and wheel
Number of pairs of millstones	Three

Bursledon Windmill is a Grade II* listed^[1] windmill at Bursledon, Hampshire England which has been restored to working order.

Description

Bursledon mill is a five storey tower mill with a stage at first floor level. The boat shaped cap is winded by a chain and wheel. The four Common sails are carried on a wooden windshaft, which also carries the wooden brake wheel. This drives the wooden wallower, located at the top of the wooden upright shaft. The wooden great spur wheel at the bottom of the upright shaft drives three pairs of underdrift millstones.^[2]

Commercial History

Bursledon Windmill was built in 1814, replacing an earlier tower mill which was built in 1766.^[3] The machinery of the earlier mill was incorporated into the new mill.^[4] In 1814, the mill was mortgaged for £800 for six years. The mill was sold by the mortgagees in 1820.^[3] The mill was working until the 1880s. John Cove and his family worked this mill between 1847 and 1871. The UK census shows he had worked a mill in Portsmouth and originally came from Wiltshire. He and his wife Susannah Emmett both came from Wiltshire and are responsible for the nearly all the Cove family in southampton. His daughter Mary married a Jarvis and ran the Jolly Sailor public house in Hamble one of his other daughters ran a market garden at the end of Windmill Lane and his son John Cove became a farm labourer.

Decline of the Windmill

When the mill ceased working, a flat roof was placed on the cap frame, which preserved the machinery in the mill.^[4] In 1931, the runner stones were removed. The mill was derelict by 1978, the top two floors being in very poor condition by then. Some essential repairs were carried out in that year by the County Council.^[2]

Restoration of the Windmill

Between 1978 and 1991, the mill was restored by the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust. The sails were replaced in 1990 and the mill opened to the public in May 1991.^[3]

Ongoing maintenance of the Windmill

From February 2012 the start of a major restoration to the windmill will begin. The first stage will see the removal of the wooden lattices that make up the sails. This work is in preparation of the replacement of the windshaft which is reaching the end of its natural life.^[5]

Millers

• William Langtry 1787-1813 (post mill)
• William Langtry 1814-1820
• John Cove 1847-1871
• George Gosling 1872-1907

Reference for above:-^[1][3]

Public access

Bursledon windmill is open to the public from 11:00 to 16:00 on Sundays. It is also open by appointment on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.^[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bursledon Windmill.

• Windmill World webpage on Bursledon Mill.
• Diagram of Bursledon Mill

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