Alford Windmill is a five-sailed

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

in Alford,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

and the only surviving windmill out of four. Though the windmill has been restored to working order, it no longer supplies flour for sale.

Construction

Alford Windmill is a seven-storeyed Lincolnshire type tower windmill with a stage – featuring a slender, tapering brick tower, tarred to keep the moisture out, covered with a white onion-shaped (ogee) cap with fan-stage, huge

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as " ...

, and white sails. She has five patent-shutter sails and originally three, later on four, pairs of stones (two pairs of grey or peak stones (cut from rock found in the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorla ...

) and two French "

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

" stones).

The Seven Storeys

#ground floor (contains a hurst frame with the engine-driven (from the outside) fourth pair of (grey) stones) #storage floor #spout (stage) floor (also called meal floor) #stones floor (with the original three pairs of stones (one grey pair, two French pairs) #lower bin floor #upper bin floor (with the sack hoist) #dust or cap floor (providing access to the inside of the cap) The mill provides a flywheel at the mill's base connected by pulley to a town gas driven engine in the adjacent shed. This engine makes the mill independent of wind if it is insufficient to drive the sailcross. In its heyday Alford Mill was capable of grinding 4 to 5 tonnes of corn a day.

History

Built as a seven-storeyed windmill in 1837 by the well-known local millwright John Oxley the mill belonged to a group of four windmills and is the sole survivor today. At the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century Alford featured a four-sailed mill, ''Wallace's'' or ''Station Mill'', now a stump; a five-sailed windmill, ''Hoyles's Windmill'', today's ''Alford Mill''; and a six-sailer, the six-storeyed ''Myers's Windmill'', built in 1827 with six left-handed sails, and also called the ''Alford Mill'' dismantled in 1973. The last commercial operators of the windmill were the Hoyles family. Purchased by Harry Hoyles, a local farmer and land owner, in the early 20th century, the business of milling and baking continued until 1955, run by his sons Walter, Arthur and Winston (The Miller). In those times the mill was known as the ''Hoyles's Mill''. The business closed due to advancements in technology in 1955 and the mill was initially sold to Fred Banks of

Kirton in Lindsey Kirton in Lindsey, also abbreviated to Kirton Lindsey, is a market town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It is south-east from Scunthorpe. History Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII lived at Kirton-in-Lindsey afte ...

in 1957, a private buyer and owner of Mount Pleasant Mill, who subsequently restored the windmill to working order. The last surviving windmill became then known as the ''Alford Windmill''. In 1978, miller Fred Banks had to replace the mill's cap and all five sails. The same year the mill changed hands to the Lincolnshire County Council which took care for the mill's restoration over many years. The mill remained leased to Mr Banks, the former owner, until 1986 when he gave up his milling business, his place being taken by James Waterfield of Boston in the following year, owner of the famous Maud Foster Windmill. The mill was then leased to Geoff Dees for some years, until the lease was sold in January 2010 to the current lease holder, Ian Shepherd.

References

External links

Five Sailed Windmill, Alford - Official Website
{{Authority control Windmills in Lincolnshire Tower mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Windmills completed in 1837 Towers completed in 1837 Multi-sailed windmills Grade I listed buildings in Lincolnshire Grade I listed windmills Alford, Lincolnshire