Author: Nancy Platts
Brixton Windmill will reopen to the public on Monday 2nd May 2011. This photo was taken the day the sails went back on: 7th April 2011, a day that caused huge excitement amongst local people, the media and the Friends of Windmill Gardens.
The grand opening will start with a May Day Parade leaving Windrush Square at 2pm and arriving at Windmill Gardens at 3pm to a welcome performance by the Brixton Windmill Theatre Company. Chuka Umunna MP, ward councillors and a guest celebrity will officially open the mill at 3.15 pm and then there will be guided tours of the restored mill. This event is free.
Brixton Windmill was built in 1816 and is now the last survivor of the twelve working windmills in Lambeth. The mill was leased by the Ashby family who were millers producing stoneground wholemeal flour and the mill became known as Ashby’s Mill, for the whole of its working life.
Brixton Windmill was a working mill until it closed in 1934. The mill gradually fell into disrepair until being listed as Grade II* in 1951. In 2003 a determined local residents’ group, the Friends of Windmill Gardens, was set up with the objective of restoring the mill for future generations. In 2010 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded £397,700 towards the restoration of this unique building. This grant was combined with funding from the Council, and monies fundraised by the Friends of Windmill Gardens. Restoration began in October 2010 and has taken seven months to complete. The Provender mill will now be powered by electricity so that it can be used in milling demonstrations and the sails will once again be able to turn in the wind.
For more details see http://www.brixtonwindmill.org/
Nancy Platts
Press Officer for Friends of Windmill Gardens