Alford Windmill, September 2005

Alford Windmill (pron. "Olford Windmill" in Lincs) is a five-sailed windmill in Alford, Lincolnshire and the only surviving windmill out of four. Today the windmill has been restored to working order, and grinds grain to organic flour. It is open as a tourist attraction. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A Dutch tower windmill, sporting sails, surrounded by tulips A windmill is an engine powered by the wind to produce energy, often contained in a large building as in traditional post mills, smock mills and tower mills. ... Alford (pronounced Olford) is a town in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of about 3,500 people. ... For other places with the same name, see Lincolnshire (disambiguation). ... Organic vegetables at a farmers market in Argentina. ... For other uses, see Flour (disambiguation). ...

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, and white sails. She has five patent-shutter sails and originally three, later on four pair of stones (two pair of grey or peak stones (cut from rock found in the Peak District) and two French "quartzite" stones). The seven storeys are called: ground floor (contains a hurst frame with the engine-driven (from the outside) forth 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 her hey day Alford Mill was capable of grinding 4 to 5 tonnes of corn a day. The tower mill Lana Mariana from 1739 in Harskamp (Ede), Netherlands (Dutch description: ronde stenen beltmolen = round stone mound mill) A Tower Mill is a type of windmill which consists of a brick or stone tower, on top of which sits a roof or cap which can be turned to... Smock mill with fantail Fantail – a little windmill mounted at right angles to the sails, at the rear of the windmill, and which turned the cap automatically to bring it into the wind. ... The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire. ... Quartzite Quartzite (from German Quarzit[1]) is a hard, metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. ... Builders hoist, with small petrol engine A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which rope or chain wraps. ...

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 now dismantled (after 1932) six-storeyed Myers's Windmill with six left-handed sails, in her times also called the Alford Mill) as the only place in Lincolnshire beside Horncastle. Derived from the trade of carpentry, a millwright originally was a specialised carpenter who was trained as a carpenter and as well had working knowledge of gear ratios, driveshaft speeds, and other equations. ... , Horncastle is a market town of some 6,090 residents in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. ...

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 Frank Banks of Kirton in Lindsey 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. Twenty years later in 1978 miller F. 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 resulting in the fine edifice that now once again plays its part in the local community. 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. Now Alford Mill is leased to miller Geoff Dees. Mount Pleasant Mill , Kirton in Lindsey, also abbreviated to Kirton Lindsey, is a small town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England, situated about 10 miles south of Scunthorpe, near the A15. ... Mount Pleasant Mill is a windmill at Kirton in Lindsey in North Lincolnshire in the north of England. ... The Maud Foster Windmill, one of the largest operating windmills in England is located on the Maud Foster Drain in Boston, England. ...

Today Alford Windmill is one of eight working windmills in all Lincolnshire the other ones being

• Maud Foster Windmill in Skirbeck, Boston, Lincolnshire (five-sailed, tallest working windmill in all England)
• Mount Pleasant Mill in Kirton in Lindsey (four-sailed)
• Sibsey Trader Mill (six-sailed)
• Waltham Windmill (a museum windmill, six-sailed)
• Heckington, the world's only eight-sailed Dutch type tower windmill
• Dobson's Mill (a museum windmill) in Burgh-le-Marsh (five-sailed, left-handed)
• Ellis Mill in Lincoln (four-sailed).

Alford, Mount Pleasant, and Maud Foster Windmills are commercially working mills. The Maud Foster Windmill, one of the largest operating windmills in England is located on the Maud Foster Drain in Boston, England. ... , Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, UK, on the east coast of England. ... Mount Pleasant Mill is a windmill at Kirton in Lindsey in North Lincolnshire in the north of England. ... Mount Pleasant Mill , Kirton in Lindsey, also abbreviated to Kirton Lindsey, is a small town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England, situated about 10 miles south of Scunthorpe, near the A15. ... Sibsey is a civil parish and village on the A16 road in the English county of Lincolnshire. ... Waltham Windmill Waltham Windmill is a six-sailed windmill located in the village of Waltham, five miles from Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. ... Last existing eight-sailed tower windmill in Heckington Heckington Windmill is the only 8-sailed tower Dutch type windmill still standing in the UK and probably the worlds only one of this type. ... Burgh le Marsh is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, about 4 miles west of Skegness. ... Lincoln (pronounced //) is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England. ...

External links

• Alford Windmill site
• photograph of the six-sailed, left-handed Myers's windmill in 1901