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 Cultural Trust
Year built 1814
Information
Purpose Corn mill
Type tower mill
Storeys Five storeys
No. of sails Four sails
Type of sails Common sails
Windshaft Wood
Winding Hand winded via chain and wheel
No. of pairs of millstones Three

Bursledon Windmill is a Grade II* listed[1] windmill in 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

In February 2012 the start of a major restoration to the windmill began. The first stage saw the removal of the wooden lattices that make up the sails. This work was in preparation for the replacement of the windshaft which had reached the end of its natural life.[5] The work was completed in November 2014.[6]

In 2014 ownership of the Bursledon Windmill was transferred to the Hampshire Cultural Trust as part of a larger transfer of museums from Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council.[7]

Millers

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.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Historic England. "BURLESDON WINDMILL, WINDMILL LANE, BURSLEDON, EASTLEIGH, HAMPSHIRE (354920)". Images of England. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  2. 1 2 Ellis, Monica (editor) (1978). Water and Wind Mills in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Southampton: Southampton University Industrial Archaeology Group. pp. 58–59. ISBN 0-905280-01-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Bursledon Windmill stands as Phoebe Langtry’s legacy". Hampshire Chronicle. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  4. 1 2 "BURSLEDON WINDMILL". Southern Life. Archived from the original on 17 July 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  5. ↑ Hampshire County Council. "Bursledon Windmill". Hampshire County Council. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Bursledon Windmill reopens after £94,000 revamp". BBC News Online. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "Hampshire and Winchester museums and art leased to trust". BBC News. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
  8. ↑ Burlesdon Windmill "Bursledon Windmill" Check |url= value (help). Hampshire County Council. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
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