LINCOLNSHIRE A-FULLETBY
LINCOLNSHIRE
ADDLETHORPE
Tower mill, gone
TF552675
The tallest mill in this part of Lincolnshire, with seven floors(1). It was built c1840 with bricks made in a nearby field(2). The tower had a list when first built; an attempt was made to correct this but instead it tilted too far the other way. The problem was never satisfactorily solved during the life of the mill, which at the time of R Hawksley’s visit leaned 14” down to the stone floor. The sails were originally 37 feet long each, but were shortened in 1927 to 33ft 4”. The cross had a span of 8ft instead of the more usual 4ft to 4ft 6”.(3) Two of the sails were made from a pitch pine log washed up on the seashore and were fitted in 1882. There was a swinging safety catch to hold the striking lever in the “shutters open” position. At 9” square the iron windshaft was the largest in the county(4). There was an all-iron endless chain sackhoist with adjustment lever. The rest of the machinery was iron too apart from the wooden brake and brake lever.(5) The great spur wheel had eight arms and was cast in two halves(6). Two pairs of peak stones were installed on the third floor; latterly the mill drove two pairs of French both 4ft 6” diameter. A single pair of very large governors was driven from a secondary upright shaft which in turn was driven from the main one. On the third floor a combined kibbler and crusher was driven by a belt, with guide rollers, from a wood-rimmed iron pulley on auxiliary upright shaft. This shaft was not wind-driven but geared to an 18 h.p. Blackstone oil engine, installed during the Second World War, on the ground floor. From it was also driven the pair of peaks, which had no governors, plus grain elevators.(7) There was a rope drive with two jockey pulleys for a chaff cutter in the bakehouse roof, until rain shrank the rope(8).
(1) HRH in HESS
(2) RW 1953
(3) HRH in HESS
(4) RW in HESS
(5) HRH in HESS
(6) RW in HESS
(7) HRH in HESS
(8) RW in HESS
ALFORD, Myers’ Mill
Tower mill, gone
TF453758
The tower was tarred and had been heightened two floors, this added section being cylindrical(1). The inside diameter of the tower was approximately 18 feet at the ground floor and 9ft 6in at the curb, and the approximate height of the mill was 75 feet(2). There was an iron stage at second-floor level, and a door gave access into an adjoining building(3). The mill was heightened when this and the other large buildings on the site were erected(4). The cap had ten centering wheels(5). The curb was dead, though Wailes states it was fitted with “side rollers”, with the rack on top. The brakewheel was approximately 6’ diameter with 3” pitch teeth(6). It was a wood clasp-arm, with iron teeth in 84 segments of 21” pitch(7) and an iron brake, on a square iron windshaft which carried six single-shuttered clockwise patent sails(8). At one time the neck bearing was of thorn(9). The all-iron wallower, with 42 teeth(10) drove the sack hoist by friction in the usual fashion. The two floors below the dust floor contained the bins, which left little space to move around in. On the partitions were painted the initials “RT” with dates ranging from 1912 to 1928(11). The upright shaft was iron. On the second floor were four pairs of stones overdriven from a 7-foot all-iron great spur wheel with 122 teeth of two and a quarter inch pitch, through iron mortice stone nuts with 23 teeth(12). Simmons states that the great spur wheel was of unusual design and that there was a smaller, wooden gearwheel further down on the iron upright shaft. A single pair of governors were located on the fifth floor.(13) The stone governors were driven by belt from the foot of the upright shaft(14). Engine drive was provided, with outside pulley, and line-shafting in the adjoining building, for an oat crusher(15) was driven from a bevel gear on the layshaft.(16) The mill had the smallest (two and a half inches) pitch iron cogs in the county(17).
(1) HESS
(2) RW, notes held at Grimsby Library 5th September 1928
(3) HESS
(4) RW in HESS
(5) HESS
(6) RW in HESS
(7) Ibid
(8) HESS
(9) RW in HESS
(10) Ibid
(11) HESS
(12) RW in HESS
(13) HESS
(14) RW in HESS
(15) HRH in HESS
(16) HESS
(17) RW 1953
Hoyles’ Mill
Tower mill, standing today
TF457765
Built in 1837, this tall five-sailed tower mill operated commercially into the 1970s and still earns its living by selling flour to visitors, having been leased to various individuals for the purpose since being acquired for preservation by the County Council. 75ft to the curb, with an internal diameter of 23ft 6in at the base and 11ft 6in at the top according to Rex Wailes(1), it has seven floors, with a gallery at the level of the third floor up. The sails are single-sided and struck by rocking lever. The usual Lincolnshire ogee cap, with lofty fanstage, is fitted.
DUST FLOOR
Access to this was denied, so it was not possible to inspect the upper machinery, cap frame, winding gear, sack hoist etc. However according to Simmons the brakewheel is an 8ft 6in wood clasp-arm with iron teeth in segments and an iron brake. The iron windshaft is squared at the wheel and tapering towards the tail. The iron mortice wallower is 4ft in diameter. The curb is raised on wooden blocks and the rack is on the inside. Wailes (1953) notes that the pulley of the sack hoist is wooden with iron teeth holding every fifth link of the chain. The upright shaft is iron.
FLOOR BELOW DUST FLOOR
The stairwell is on the southeast side, the windows on the east, west and north, and the ladder to the dust floor on the west. On the east side below the window is a bin with a sack trap in it.
On this floor and on the bin floor the upright shaft is encased in octagonal wooden protective trunking.
BIN FLOOR
The positions of the windows on this floor were not noted. The stairwell is on the south side. The bins take up most of the east side of the floor and the sack trap is incorporated within them. There is a further bin on the southwest side. The ladder to the floor above is in two stages.
A bevelled iron crown wheel meshes with a bevel nut on a square iron layshaft which runs northeast to end in a solid wood bollard from which a belt drive goes to a wheat cleaner (resembling a large wire machine) suspended from the ceiling and fitted with an extractor fan, the latter encased in a wooden cowling. A lever in the form of a hinged timber on hangers is provided for taking the mechanism out of gear with the crown wheel.
STONE FLOOR
There are windows on all four sides. The stairwell is on the west side, and the ladder to the bin floor on the south.
Instead of terminating on this floor the upright shaft continues down to the spout floor. Beneath the great spur wheel its section changes from square to square with chamfers and them circular. The spur is all-iron with eight arms and overdrives four pairs of stones at compass points through large iron mortice stone nuts on square quants. On the south side is a fifth iron mortice nut on a vertical iron shaft which goes down to the ground floor and on the spout floor drives a modern milling machine.
SPOUT FLOOR
There are windows on the north and east sides and on the west side a door onto the stage. The stairwell is on the north side, the ladder to the stone floor on the northwest.
The upright shaft is footed in a short lateral beam between two longitudinals which span the floor. The beam is supported by a vertical post against which, halfway down, terminate the four spouts from the stones on the floor above. The bridgetrees, which are iron along with their brayers, run east-west and are bolted by iron brackets to beams in the ceiling. The governor, which has eight different controls (the four steelyards radiating from it and their links), regulating as it does all four pairs of stones, is driven by belt from a flanged wooden disc on the upright shaft just above where the latter ends. It is located on the northwest side, mounted on a horseshoe-shaped iron bracket. On the south side is the vertical shaft from the stone floor, on which are two pulleys one of which appears to be redundant while a belt goes from the other to a corresponding pulley on a second vertical shaft which drives the modern machine.
FIRST FLOOR
This is largely empty. The stairwell is on the northeast side and the ladder to the spout floor on the north, with bins to the west.
GROUND FLOOR
There is an entrance door on the east side and a window on the west. The ladder to the spout floor is on the northeast side. To the northwest is a large five-spout flour dresser, the casing of which is new. On the south just below the ceiling the vertical shaft from the stone floor carries an iron mortice bevel gear which presumably drove the dresser through an intermediary mechanism which has now disappeared. At one time there were a pair of stones on a hurst frame and a second wheat cleaner, both driven by engine as was the dresser, on this floor(2).
Both the brakewheel and the great spur wheel measure 8ft 6in(3).
Based on survey by Guy Blythman 12th September 2008
(1) Grimsby Library, 5/9/1928
(2) Wailes 1928
(3) HESS; RW 1928
ALFORD, Station Road
Tower mill, stump remains
TF444755
The tower was built of clunch cased in brick. There were one pair of French and one pair of grey stones.(1)
(1) HESS
BARDNEY
Tower mill, gone
TF120696
The tower had seven floors(1), with an internal diameter of approximately 20ft at the base and 11ft at the curb(2). A wooden gallery was provided at third-floor level. The shutters on the sails opened backwards. The curb was dead, with the rack at the side inside.(3) The neck of the windshaft was completely outside the cap(4). The windshaft, brakewheel and brake were of iron, the brakewheel being approximately 7ft diameter with 88 iron segment teeth of 3” pitch. The sack hoist drive was through an iron pulley faced with wood in contact with the underside of the rim of the wallower. The latter was solid iron with 24 teeth. The wood upright shaft was 13” square and the great spur wheel all-iron with 96 teeth of 2 and 11/16 in. pitch. There were iron mortice stone nuts with 20 teeth each. Three pairs of overdriven stones were on the third floor with the governors driven by spur gearing from the base of the upright shaft. There were a flour dresser on the ground floor and a wheat cleaner on the first.(5)
(1) RW 1928
(2) RW 1953
(3) RW 1928
(4) RW 1953
(5) RW 1928
BARTON ON HUMBER, Caistor Road
Tower mill, gone
TA037211
There was a plummer block at the top bearing of the upright shaft, rather than a glut box as was the usual practice(1).
(1) RW in HESS
BELTON, Westgate
Tower mill, standing today (tower only, house-converted)
SE770075
At 6ft diameter the cast-iron brakewheel was the smallest in the county. The great spur wheel was leaded into the upright shaft, as at four other mills in the region west of Lindsey.(1)
(1) RW 1953
BILLINGHAY, six-sailer
Tower mill, stump remains
TF143551
The six-storey tower stood on a walled mill mound(1) and was of untarred red brick(2). The top floor was high and without windows. There was a loading door on the first floor.(3) The curb was dead and raised on wooden blocks off the brickwork. The rack was on the side inside. The six double-shuttered patent sails were carried by an iron windshaft 8” square at the brakewheel and 9” diameter at the neck. The brakewheel was 8ft diameter and cast in halves with 6” face teeth(4). It, the brake and wallower were of iron and the 50-tooth wallower drove the sack hoist by means of an unbevelled iron ring on its underside, which was in contact with a flat-faced iron wheel on the spindle(5). The latter was wooden. The sack chain was endless.(6) The upright shaft was of wood for the upper part, which was 14” square, and iron for the lower(7). It extended down to the spout floor where it was supported by an iron column(8). The great spur wheel had a double iron boss and arms and a wood rim in between with 120 iron segment teeth, of two and 5/8” pitch, let into it. The stone nuts were iron mortice with 22 teeth. There were three pairs of overdriven stones on the second floor which could be driven by wind or engine, and one pair on the first floor driven by wind only. Two of the second floor pairs were French, and bore the dates 1844 and 1849 respectively. The third were burrs. The governors were belt-driven from the base of the upright shaft.(9)
(1) HRH in HESS
(2) RW 1928
(3) HRH in HESS
(4) RW 1953
(5) RW in HESS
(6) HRH in HESS
(7) RW in HESS
(8) HRH in HESS
(9) RW 1928
BILLINGHAY, Four-sailed mill
Tower mill, stump remains
TF153551
The tarred tower originally had five floors, but was later raised to seven. There was a wooden stage at first floor level. Four single-shuttered sails were carried by an iron windshaft positioned at a relatively low angle.(1) The cross had a large square boss at the centre and was mounted on horns cast on the nose of the windshaft instead of hung with keys, the more usual method. All the machinery was iron including the brake and the sack hoist friction ring. The brakewheel, in two halves, measured 8ft by 3” diameter with 6” face teeth.(2) The upright shaft descended to the ground floor where it was supported by a pillar. Two pairs of peak stones and one pair of burrs were installed. There was an auxiliary upright shaft with a universal joint in it on the first floor. A silk flour machine on the first floor was apparently driven off a horizontal shaft, geared off the main upright shaft, which at one time took the drive from an engine on the ground floor, later superseded by a tractor.(3)
(1) HRH in HESS
(2) RW in HESS
(3) HRH in HESS
BILSBY
Tower mill
TF470766
A three-storey mill which had been heightened to four floors by the addition of a new cylindrical section; H E S Simmons was told that the date when this was done was inscribed somewhere within the cap. There was no means of lighting there or on the top floor, with the result that details were difficult to make out, but as far as could be made out the machinery there conformed to usual Lincolnshire practice. A segment of the brakewheel cogs could be taken out when the engine was used.(1) The sails were mounted on a coffin cross, with side flanges into which they fitted and no strengthening rib down the back. A disadvantage of this was that water would lodge more easily between the face of the cross and the sail back, which therefore tended to rot more easily.(2) The diameter of the grear spur wheel had been increased by the millwrights Thompsons. It was 7ft across and of iron mortice type with eight arms. There were three pairs of stones, one 4’ and two 4ft 2”.(3) Two of the stone nuts were all-iron, with 20 and 21 teeth respectively(4). One pair of stones had the governor immediately beneath them. A fourth stone nut drove a wire machine and received the drive from the engine, a Blackstone, which was conveyed through a 2ft 6in iron bevel with wood teeth beneath the first floor ceiling. The engine also presumably drove one pair of stones. Simmons found a pair of new 4ft 6in peaks in a shed near the mill.(5)
(1) HESS
(2) RW 1953
(3) HESS
(4) RW in HESS
(5) HESS
BINBROOK
Tower mill, gone
TF209938
Of untarred red brick, the mill is thought to have been built in the 1870s, shortly after the local church. The internal diameter of the tower was approximately 22’ at the ground floor and 10’ at the curb. Originally a six-sailer, it ran for a long time with four sails after losing two.(1) The curb was dead, and mounted on six hollow cast-iron blocks 21 inches by 19 inches by 4 inches high, curved to the radius of the curb(2). The rack was at the side inside. The windshaft was iron, 7 and a half inches square at the brakewheel and 10in diameter at the neck journal. The upright shaft and brakewheel were also iron, the latter having 23 wood teeth. One pair of peak and three pairs of French burr stones were overdriven on the second floor. One of the French pairs was dated 1855 and may have come from another mill. The governors were driven by belt from the base of the upright shaft and the sack hoist by a flat-faced iron friction wheel engaging with a flat iron friction ring mounted below the wallower. There were wire machines on the ground and fourth floors, and the mill could be run by engine when required.(3)
(1) RW 5th September 1928
(2) RW 1953
(3) RW 5/9/1928
NEW BOLINGBROKE, Watkinson’s Mill
Tower mill, stump remains
TF294573
The rack was at the side of the curb outside. The windshaft was 11” diameter at the brakewheel, 6 and a half inches at the tail and 11” at the neck.(1) The wheel was of wood with an iron cog ring. The wallower was iron mortice and the wooden upright shaft square above the great spur wheel and circular below.(2) The great spur had an iron hub, ring and segment teeth and eight wooden arms(3). Its diameter had been increased by Thompsons at one point(4). The stone nuts were each of wood between two iron plates(5). Two pairs of stones were overdriven. The governors were driven by belt from the bottom of the upright shaft via a countershaft. There was an engine drive through a secondary upright shaft which also had a gearwheel for an unidentified machine, possibly a flour dresser.(6)
(1) RW 1953
(2) HRH in HESS
(3) RW in HESS
(4) HESS
(5) RW in HESS
(6) HRH in HESS
OLD BOLINGBROKE, Kirkby Hill
Tower mill, standing today (tower only)
TF339642
The almost cylindrical tower was painted white. The dust and bin floors were combined. There was no fanstage and R Hawksley describes the mill as having a ”six-stage horizontal fan tackle”. The curb was dead and there were eight centring wheels. The style of the machinery suggested that the mill was older than many other Lincolnshire tower mills. The windshaft was square, iron and tapered. The 8ft wood clasp-arm brakewheel, with wood brake, had iron teeth bolted on in segments. The 4ft 6in cast-iron wallower had a wood ring on its underside driving the sack hoist through an iron friction wheel on the iron-straked wooden bollard. The wooden upright shaft was 13” square(1) and in two pieces(2). The 7ft 6in 8-spoked cast-iron great spur wheel had had its diameter increased six inches by the addition of a wooden outer rim with iron teeth. This was not done by Thompsons’. The stones would have run the same speed but that of the sails would have been reduced. Immediately below the wheel was a 4ft 6in wooden ring the purpose of which was not apparent. The stone nuts were iron mortice. Two pairs of stones, one pair of French and one of grey and both 4ft, were driven. The single pair of governors was on the ground floor and driven by a short belt from the base of the upright shaft. A secondary upright shaft drove a dresser on the ground floor via a six-spoked iron spur gear of light construction on a large square boss and with teeth cast separately.(3) The bridgetrees were of iron, and the governors mounted on bowed girders as was usual Lincolnshire practice(4).
There were sack shelves on the stone floor, as at Stickford, and a neat meal spout with two outlets(5).
(1) HESS
(2) HRH in HESS
(3) HESS
(4) Photographs in Mills Archive
(5) RW in HESS
BOSTON, Maud Foster Mill
Tower mill, standing today
TF332447
Another of Lincolnshire’s tall multi-sailed mills, Maud Foster mill was in fact built by a firm of millwrights from Hull, Norman and Smithson, in 1819 and in some ways is more typical of Yorkshire; the attractive yellow brickwork is exposed rather than tarred, as was sometimes the case in that county, and the taper of the ogee cap is slightly sharper. The mill has seven floors with a stage at fourth-floor level, the latter being cross-braced and stayed to the tower by diagonal members. Five single-sided patent sails are mounted on the usual cross and struck by rocking lever. Winding is by eight-bladed fantail. Attractively, the spider and the whips from the canister to the sail frames are currently painted red. The mill worked by wind until 1948 and by power for a few more years after that; later acquired by Ross Frozen Foods, it survived in fair condition and mechanically complete until mill enthusiast James Waterfield and his family bought it in the 1987. The mill has now been fully restored and regularly produces flour; it is believed to be the tallest working windmill in the country at present (after Moulton).
A plaque on the wall by the entrance door reads “Please ring for attention”.
DUST FLOOR
There is one window. The stairwell is on the northwest side.
The cap is centred by eight truck wheels: one at the front of the breast beam, or rode baulk as it is called in Lincolnshire, on a bracket bolted between two short timbers, one on each sheer towards its forward end, one on each of the two short timbers projecting at the sides in line with the spindle (sprattle) beam, one on each sheer towards the rear and one on the tailbeam at mid-point. The rode baulk is of iron. The curb is dead; the number and positions of the pigs (skid plates) was not noted. The rack is outside and on the top.
On an iron windshaft is mounted a clasp-arm wood brakewheel with an iron cog ring bolted on. This engages an eight-armed iron wallower on a circular iron upright shaft. The wallower has a bevelled wood friction rim which drives the sack hoist on the south side of the floor through a wooden pulley on a square iron layshaft carrying at its other end a small solid wood pulley grooved for the endless chain, which descends to the ground floor. The hoist is supported by a wooden frame the horizontal member of which runs across the mill north-south. The bearing of the layshaft turns in the horizontal member. The latter is supported by three vertical timbers, two on the east side in close proximity to each other and one on the west near the wall. A lever is provided for raising/lowering the horizontal member and so putting the hoist in/out of gear.
The brake is of wood.
BIN FLOOR
There are windows on the east and west sides. The stairwell is on the northwest and the ladder to the dust floor on the west. On the east side is a raised sack trap, or pulpit as it is known in Lincolnshire. The upright shaft has a large square section, beneath which it is encased in trunking as a safety measure, halfway down; this was the mounting for a now vanished gearwheel for a smutter drive. A large bin takes up most of the south side of the floor and a smaller bin, adjacent to the stairwell, much of the northern quarter. There is a grain elevator on the southwest side.
STONE FLOOR
There are windows on all sides here. The ladder to the bin floor is on the north side, the stairwell on the northeast, the sacktrap on the west.
An all-iron 8-arm great spur wheel, beneath which the upright shaft tapers inward to terminate in a shoe let into the floor, overdrives three pairs of stones on the north, east and south sides via large iron mortice stone nuts with six arms mounted on square quants. The horses and hoppers are of wood and the casings circular.
SPOUT FLOOR
There are windows on the north and south sides and doors onto the stage on the east and west. The ladder to the stone floor is on the northeast side. There is a stairwell in a cupboard on the southeast. On the south side between the bridgetree and the window is a Blackstone vertical stone mill. The iron bridgetrees all run east-west; between the north and south ones the governor controlling all three pairs of stones, and driven by belt from a pulley at the foot of the upright shaft on the stone floor, is mounted on a horseshoe-shaped iron bracket in the common Lincolnshire fashion. Four wood columns support the ceiling beams at various points: one each to the south and left and south and right of the governor, one adjacent to the northern bridgetree, two in the south-eastern quarter and two to the right of the sack trap.
SECOND FLOOR
Windows are provided on the south and west sides. There are two modern milling machines on the northeast and northwest.
FIRST FLOOR
There is much modern milling equipment on this floor. The windows are on the north, south and east sides. On the southeast side are a partly boarded-in ladder to the second floor and the stairwell which is within another wooden “cupboard”. On the northeast side is a crusher by Hopkinson. As on the second floor two columns support the main ceiling beams.
GROUND FLOOR
This floor too contains an assortment of modern milling equipment. There are windows on the north and south sides and doors on the east and west, the western door giving access into the adjacent granary. The ladder to the floor above is on the east side just to the right of the door as you come in. On the east side is a pair of stones on a hurst frame. The main longitudinal beams in the ceiling run east-west and are supported by two chamfered (making them effectively octagonal) wooden columns.
The mill is 65ft high to the curb and 80 to the top of the ball finial. The internal diameter of the tower is 24ft at the base and 12 feet at the top(1). The brakewheel is approximately 8ft in diameter(2). Simmons puts the diameter of the windshaft at 10in (neck) through to 8in (tail), that of the wallower at 4ft, and that of the upright shaft at 8in. The great spur wheel is approximately 8ft across.
On his visit Ronald Hawksley noted that traps in the shoes were worked by a long lever worked from the spout floor, also that there was a counterweight to the governor running over a pulley on the stone floor.
Based on survey carried out by Guy Blythman 14th September 2008. Thanks to James Waterfield for making corrections where necessary.
(1) Rex Wailes 1953
(2) RW 1928
BOURNE
Bourne Mill (¾ mile north of church)
Tower mill (TF096212)
There were four single-shuttered spring sails(1) and three pairs of stones with “central lifting on the bridgetrees”(2).
(1) Mr Cobbin, in HESS
(2) TMS 9/40
BRIGG
Bell’s Mill
Tower mill
SE996065
There were five pairs of stones, all driven by wind, on the fourth floor(1).
(1) HESS
BURGH LE MARSH, Hanson’s Mill
Tower mill, standing today (tower only, house-converted)
TF497650
The tower had five floors, the top one being high. The fantail had six blade and the rack was on the outside. The brakewheel was wood with an iron cog row and brake the large iron wallower had an inner iron friction ring for the sack hoist. The upright shaft was wood and iron, and the great spur wheel all-iron with segmented teeth separately cast. There were two pairs of burr and one pair of peak stones. The governors were belt-driven from the upright shaft above the great spur. Via a wooden gearwheel an auxiliary upright shaft drove a vertical smutter on the first floor and a large metal drum flour machine on the ground. There was an engine on site, separate from the mill.(1)
(1) HRH in HESS
BURGH-LE-MARSH, Dobson’s Mill
Tower mill, standing today
TF503649
Dobson’s Mill at Burgh-le-Marsh is one of those which owes its survival to having operated commercially until comparatively recently, in this case 1965. It is owned by the County Council and managed by the Burgh-le-Marsh Heritage Group working through a team of volunteers under whom it produces flour from time to time. Thought to date from 1844(1), it is one of two windmills in the town though of the other, Hanson’s Mill, little more than the tower survives, converted to a house.
The mill has six floors, but is not as tall as those at Heckington and Sibsey, for example, and it was not thought necessary to retain the stage which was provided when the mill had common sails (as it is believed to have done). It has a typical Lincolnshire ogee cap and lofty fan cradle (the actual fanstage, as on most other Lincolnshire tower mills, being rather small). There are five clockwise single-shuttered patent sails with a sharp angle of weather and struck by rocking lever. The cap turns on a dead curb resting on wooden blocks on top of the brickwork. The rack is at the side on the inside. The brakewheel is in two halves with an iron hub and arms and wooden rim, the windshaft iron, as is the brake, and square.
DUST FLOOR
This is reached by a ladder on the northwest side divided into two stages by a raised sack trap. I did not actually examine it but some details can be made out from the floor below. The iron mortice wallower friction-drives the sack hoist which is on the left side of it running east-west. The hoist is in the form of a large four-armed iron pulley on a square iron layshaft carrying at the other end another pulley, solid and bifurcated, which receives the chain. The upright shaft is of iron and the brakewheel is fitted with an iron brake band.
FLOOR BELOW DUST FLOOR
There are windows on the northwest and southeast sides. Again there is a ladder on the northwest in two stages separated by a raised sack trap. The stairwell is on the west. For most of the circumference of the floor, from just right of the northwest window to just left of the stairwell, the wall is lined with vertical boards to the height of the window ledges. The main ceiling beams run northwest-southeast. For the bottom few feet of its height on this floor the upright shaft is encased in box trunking.
The floor is roughly divided in half north-south by a partition going from the sack trap to the wall opposite to it and in contact with the trunking around the upright shaft. The northern half appears to be bins.
BIN FLOOR
The upper five courses of brick on this floor are stepped inwards.
There is one bin on the west side, partitioned into two sections. Windows are provided on the northwest, southeast and northeast sides. The stairwell is on the south side with a partition around it. The ladder to the floor above is on the southwest side.
The main ceiling beams run east-west. At mid-length they carry between them a lateral timber which is tenoned jointly into them and into curved “cheek pieces” on their undersides. This timber acts as a steady bearing for the upright shaft; above it the shaft has a large two-jaw dog clutch in it. Again (and on the stone floor) the lower few feet of the shaft are surrounded by protective trunking.
On the north side, in line with the lateral beam, a substantial timber runs from the main floor beam to the wall, beneath and parallel to a ceiling joist. The timber and the joist are not in contact but a semicircular rebate in the underside of the former matches a corresponding one in the upper face of the latter, suggesting the former presence of a horizontal shaft of some kind. There are a couple of small holes in the timber below the rebate.
The flooring here is old as is the structure of the bins. The walls are lined with vertical boarding, again to the height of the window ledges, for most of the circumference of the tower from the southwest to the southeast window. In the floor on the east side are a number of small square openings, and one larger one, surrounded by raised wooden blocks forming an octagonal skirt, which is now boarded over. It is possible the latter was originally the opening for a vertical shaft.
A displaced wooden hopper and horse lie on the north side.
STONE FLOOR
There are windows on the northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast sides. The stairwell is on the south and the ladder to the bin floor on the southwest.
Just above the great spur wheel a steady bearing for the upright shaft, above which is another coupling, is bolted to a lateral timber between the main ceiling beams. The spur is all-iron with eight arms ribbed on their undersides and drives three pairs of stones on the west, northwest and east sides through large iron mortice stone nuts on square quants. The western and northwest stones have modern furniture. The western stones bear a maker’s nameplate by Thomas Stapelton of Hull, cast in 1856. The runner of the eastern stones is displaced from its proper position; it is within its original casing, a section of which has been removed. On the southwest the great spur wheel meshes with a fourth iron mortice nut on a vertical shaft which descends to the floor below to drive a mixer which processed animal feed. The nut appears to be attached to a solid iron disc on the shaft instead of mounted in the same fashion as the stone nuts.
According to Ronald Hawksley, as at one or two other mills traps in the shoes were worked from the spout floor.
SPOUT FLOOR
There are windows on the north and southwest sides. The ladder to the stone floor is on the southeast and the stairwell the northeast. The main ceiling beams run northeast-southwest; the carry between them the bridge beam for the upright shaft. A belt from the flanged base of the shaft drives the governor, going to a flanged iron disc on the latter’s spindle. The iron bridge trees are mounted, on iron hangers, between the main ceiling beams and between two subsidiary timbers running off them on the northwest side. They are of the dogleg type as is usual in Lincolnshire. The governor is large with pear-shaped weights and is located on the south side on a horseshoe-shaped iron bracket bolted to the ceiling joists. From it a steelyard goes north-east to its mounting on the underside of the bridge beam with a link at mid-point where it divides into three. One steelyard runs southwest to that end of the western bridgetree, one northeast to the southern end of the eastern bridgetree, and one, the longest, across to the north-west bridgetree. Where the steelyards connect with the bridgetrees hand tentering screws are provided.
On the vertical shaft from the stone floor is a horizontal four-armed iron pulley from which a belt goes to the north side and a corresponding pulley on the (vertical) shaft of the mixer itself, which has a clutch in it.
On the south side is a pair of engine-driven stones, complete with their original furniture, on a wooden platform, and on the north a hand-operated winch which was used to pull up the sack chain if the wind drive was out of action for any reason.
The bridge beam is given additional support by a wooden post with nicely chamfered corners, which also serves as an attachment for a spout from the eastern stones.
GROUND FLOOR
The entrance door is on the south side and windows are provided on the east and west sides. The main ceiling beams run north-south with between them at mid-length a lateral beam through which the post supporting the bridge beam, which continues down to ground level, passes. North of the lateral beam, a further such beam is fixed between the main ceiling timbers. This supports the vertical shaft off the great spur wheel which forms the initial stage of the mixer drive. The latter could be driven by either wind or engine. A large iron mortice bevel pinion engages with an all-iron drive nut on the engine drive layshaft, which runs north-south to terminate outside the mill in the usual belt pulley, here doubled so that it could drive a chaff cutter as well as the machinery in the windmill(2). Continuing north, the layshaft also carries (1) a small pulley, modern in appearance, whose purpose is unclear; (2) the nut for the power stones on the spout floor; and (3) a large iron pulley with six curved spokes from which a belt travels to the left to drive an oat crusher (described on the maker’s nameplate as an “improved corn crushing mill”) in the north-west corner, which is by Hunt & Co of Wakes Colne, Essex. The nut for the engine stones meshes with a solid iron bevel pinion on the end of their spindle, the latter resting on an iron bridgetree mounted between the timbers with a hand screw for taking the drive out of gear. On the southeast side a spout from the mixer discharges into what looks like a stone casing.
Several spouts discharge onto this floor, one on the south side and one in the centre. On the north-east side is a grain elevator, which supplied the engine stones, with its drive pulley and on the east a storage rack for sacks. There was at one time a flour dresser(3).
Rex Wailes (5/9/1928) took the following measurements:
Height of tower: 60ft (approx.)
Internal diameter of tower at base: 20ft (approx.)
Brakewheel: 7ft diameter, 74 teeth
Windshaft: 10in diameter at neck journal
Wallower: 32 teeth
Based on survey carried out by Guy Blythman 28th August 2011
(1) Burgh-le-Marsh windmill website
(2) HRH in HESS
(3) RW 5/9/1928
BUTTERWICK
Tower mill, standing today
TF385455
The bell alarm was on an old-fashioned flat “harp” spring similar to that at Spital Hill, Gainsborough, but instead of being bolted to the bottom board of the feed shoe was clipped to the hopper itself(1).
(1) RW in HESS
WEST BUTTERWICK
Tower mill, standing today
SE836066
The cap was tarred, as was the five-storey tower for much of its height from the curb downwards(1). The sails were mounted on a coffin cross(2). The brakewheel was of wood with an iron cog ring. All the other machinery was iron including the brake, which had an iron guard above it as at Kexby and Coleby Heath, and brake lever.(3) The wallower was held on the upright shaft by a single key(4). There were three pairs of stones, two burrs and one peak, on the first floor; one of the burrs was latterly driven by belt from an auxiliary upright shaft which also drove a grain elevator on the top floor and a vertical smutter on the third floor (Hawksley also says there is a “vertical cleaning machine” on the second floor). It connected with an additional two pairs of stones on the ground floor which were driven by engine; here there was a flour machine off a second auxiliary upright shaft. The governors were driven by bevel gearing from the base of the main upright shaft.(5)
(1) HRH in HESS
(2) RW in HESS
(3) HRH in HESS
(4) RW in HESS
(5) HRH in HESS
CARLBY
Tower mill, gone
One of the older type of tower mill, with a sixteenth-seventeenth century type cap as was once found on many of the drainage mills. A Mr Somerfield once described it as the ugliest windmill he had ever seen. The squat, bottle-shaped stone tower was about thirty feet high and broad, the curb being seventeen feet across.(1) There were four spring sails (TMS says two springs and two cloths), with coil springs lying along the backs as was usual in Lincolnshire, and winding was by tailpole and winch(2). The bridgetrees were each carried between two vertical posts on the ground floor. The bridge beam was mounted three feet above the stone floor, again between two vertical posts. The wallower, from which the sack hoist was driven, was level with the dust floor, and the cogs above it. There were three pairs of stones, and latterly supplementary steam power was used.(3)
(1) TMS September 1940, in HESS
(2) RW 1953
(3) TMS in HESS
CARLTON LE MOORLAND
Post mill, gone
SK897585
The mill was built in 1823. The two-floor body stood above a tarred brick roundhouse with a boarded and felt-covered wood roof. There was a pent roof over the buck door.(1) The crowntree measured 4” by 16”(2). The windshaft, brake- and tail wheels were all wooden, the wheels being of clasp-arm type. The brakewheel had iron segment teeth with an extension cast on the outside to drive a spur gear for the drive to the flour machine in the tail. The two pairs of stones were arranged head-and-tail.(3)
(1) HESS, RW 1951
(2) HESS
(3) RW in HESS
CARRINGTON
Tower mill
TF311554
The lower storey of the tower was cylindrical, giving a bottle shape(1). The stones were underdriven(2). There was a spare peak stone with a 17in diameter eye.
(1) Photographs in Museum of Lincolnshire Life and National Monuments Record
(2) H Cobbin and RW, in HESS
COLEBY HEATH
Tower mill, gone
SK989603
A tall mill of seven floors, with a gallery around the fourth. The inside diameter of the tower was 24 feet at the ground floor and 10 at the curb. The entire cap, both roof and sheers etc, was made from steel, as were the fantail supports (braced to the cap with wire ropes), the ladder from the dust floor and the joists carrying the stone floor. This probably dated from when the mill was rebuilt by Messrs Rushton of Lincoln in 1860. The noise when the mill was working must have been considerable. The fan drive was transmitted through three pairs of bevel gears, as at Heckington. The curb was dead with the rack on top; the truck wheels ran between twin iron flanges. The shutters in the six sails are believed to have been of sheet copper.
The brakewheel, brake lever, windshaft, wallower, upright shaft and great spur wheel were of iron. The brakewheel had its teeth cast separately in segments; they were of two and three-quarter inch pitch with a diameter of approximately 6ft 6in. The sack hoist was driven by a wood-faced iron pulley engaging with an iron friction ring on the underside of the wallower. The great spur wheel was approximately 9ft in diameter with 2in pitch teeth. There were four pairs of overdriven stones, 4ft 6in in diameter, on the stone floor, controlled by a single governor driven by spur gearing from the base of the upright shaft. A flour dresser was on the first floor.(1)
(1) RW 1928, 1953
CONINGSBY
Tower mill, demolished 1970
TF224579
The tower had six floors, the top one being high(1). The internal diameter was 20 feet at the ground floor and 12 feet at the curb. The latter was dead with the rack on the top outside.(2) There was no fanstage and the drive from the fan to the curb was in six stages(3). The windshaft was iron and the brakewheel and brake wood, the former having iron segment teeth (as did the great spur wheel). The wallower was iron, the upright shaft and great spur wheel wood, and the stone nuts iron mortice. The upright shaft was square above the spur wheel. The sack hoist was driven by an iron friction wheel engaging with a wood friction ring below the wallower.(4) The latter had a safety guard around it. On the second floor were two pairs of French stones, bearing the dates 1840 and 1845, and one pair of peaks, all overdriven. The tentering for the peaks could be manually controlled from the ground floor by a lever which passed through a support column(5). The governors were driven from a wooden pulley on the upright shaft just below the great spur wheel and thence to a two-piece(6) vertical shaft passing down through the floor. There was a wire machine on the ground floor and a small screen for maize on the first.(7) This equipment was driven by an auxiliary upright shaft, bevel gears and layshaft; an additional gearwheel served no purpose that could be ascertained. There was a portable ladder to the fourth floor. An old elevator had been adapted to use as a spout.(8)
(1) HRH in HESS
(2) RW 1928
(3) HRH in HESS
(4) RW in HESS
(5) HRH in HESS
(6) Ibid
(7) RW, Grimsby Library 5th September 1928
(8) HRH in HESS
COVENHAM ST BARTHOLOMEW
Post mill, gone
This was originally an open trestle mill, a brick roundhouse later being added. The sail shutters operated on a kind of roller blind principle. An iron windshaft was put in in 1867 but the brake- and tailwheels were of wood. There were a pair of French stones in the head and one of greys in the tail, plus a dresser.(1)
(1) HESS
COWBIT
Tower mill, standing today (tower only)
TF265179
The sails had canvas shutters. The windshaft and wallower were iron. The brakewheel was originally all wood but latterly had iron cogs fitted in segments. The upright shaft and great spur wheel were wooden, the latter again having iron segment teeth. There were two pairs of grey stones and one pair of French, overdriven and regulated by a single governor on the east side.(1)
(1) HESS 13th September 1946; HC August 1946
CROWLE, Barrett’s Mill
Tower mill, gone
SE776132
The five-storey brick tower had at one time been tarred. The windshaft was of iron, octagonal and tapering, and the brakewheel wood with iron segmented teeth. A 7ft 6in all-iron eight-armed great spur wheel was mounted on a tapering iron upright shaft. There were three pairs of stones located on the third floor up.(1)
(1) HESS August 1943
CROWLE, Godknow Road Mill
Tower mill, gone
SE772123
The four-storey brick tower was formerly tarred. On a 12” square wooden upright shaft was mounted an iron wallower and a 7ft all-iron eight-armed great spur wheel. There were one pair of peaks and two pairs of French stones on the first floor.(1)
(1) HESS August 1943
DEEPING ST JAMES
Tower mill, demolished 1970
TF156099
The tower was constructed of a course of thickly dressed and four of thin undressed stone alternately, the overall effect being very attractive. It was of substantial girth, 20 feet 6in diameter inside the base, the walls at that point being 2ft 6in thick. The cap, winded by hand, was boat-shaped in something like the Norfolk fashion, with a gallery around it. There was also a stage at first floor level of the tower, from which the winch on the tailpole was worked. The chain was hitched around small posts projecting from the stage. The curb was dead, the cap running upon wooden blocks. There were two spring and two common sails. The windshaft (polygonal), poll end, brake wheel, brake, clasp-arm wallower, upright shaft and great spur wheel and stone nuts were wooden, including all cogs. The upright shaft was 13¾” square. The very heavy great spur wheel was mounted at the bottom of the upright shaft on the first (stone) floor. The shaft had a pot and pintle thrust bearing at the bottom let into an adjustable sprattle beam was raised off the floor to just above the level of the hoppers. The great spur was 8ft 3in diameter with teeth of 3in pitch and 5in face. The stone nuts were nuts were built up wheels with each tooth in two halves on a circumferential line. There were three pairs of overdriven stones, two French and one peak of 5ft diameter. The French nuts had 22 teeth, the peak nut 14. Each stone was independently controlled by a governor driven from an extension of the stone spindle. The weights were hemispherical, moving outwards along crescent-shaped arms. A wooden bevel ring on top of the great spur wheel drove a wooden bevel pinion on an octagonal wooden layshaft. On the other end of this shaft was a wooden clasp-arm face gear which drove an iron bevel on the spindle of the wire machine.(1)
(1) RW 1928, 1953
DEEPING ST JAMES Frognall
Post mill, gone
This mill had a roundhouse and drove two pairs of stones, a dresser and a smutter. It ceased work by wind, an 8 h.p. Hornsby engine being installed, after it was damaged in a gale. On the centre post was carved “WW WA 1821”.(1)
(1) A Mr Boyden in HESS, 1942
DOGDYKE, Chapel Hill Mill
Tower mill, stump remains
TF208539
The red brick tower bore a tablet with the inscription “LS 1838”, the “S” relating to a man named Stothard. On a bin were carved the names “Ted Thorpe” and “Richardson”. The sails were 34 feet long. The upright shaft was iron and the great spur wheel c9ft 6in diameter. Three pairs of overdriven stones, all 4ft 4in, were at one time installed along with a dresser. Latterly one pair of stones had been removed leaving a set of greys and one of burrs, with provision for working by a portable Hornsby engine.(1)
(1) HESS
DONINGTON Church End, Baxter’s Mill
Tower mill, stump remains
TF218349
This mill had an iron wallower and a wooden upright shaft(1).
(1) A Mr Avery in HESS, 3/11/1946
DONINGTON, Horton’s Mill
Tower mill
There were an iron windshaft and upright shaft and three pairs of overdriven stones, of which at least one was French and one grey(1).
(1) Mr Cobbin in HESS, August 1946
DOWSBY, Claypole’s Mill
Smock mill, gone
This was a very small mill, working two pairs of stones. There was no coupling in the upright shaft, which was carried on a beam close under the great spur wheel. The latter was iron and meshed with iron stone nuts, which must have been very noisy. A watermill, likewise very small, stood just six feet away.(1)
(1) TMS September 1940
DYKE, smock mill (former drainage mill)
Standing today, house-converted
Jon Sass, “Lincolnshire’s Last Smock Mill”, Lincolnshire History and Archaeology vol.36 2001: “She was built in the eighteenth century as a pumping mill, one of many in Deeping Fen lifting water into the higher drains. Having been made redundant by more efficient steam-powered pumps, she was moved to her present site in c1845. Some parts of the old scoop wheel were reused as floor joists. The mill was then fitted out to grind grain. It originally had two pairs of French stones and a pair of peaks. These were all 4ft 6” in diameter and housed on the first floor. A dresser was installed. The mill was originally powered by four common sails. When it was refurbished in the late nineteenth century two spring sails were fitted. Winding was achieved by a braced tailpole with a chain and winch at the base. There were 16 posts set around the mill mound to which a chain could be drawn from the winch and secured. The 20ft wooden tower is mounted above the 12ft high octagonal tarred brick base. The sails were each 32ft long and came within 2ft of the ground.
In 1878 the mill came into the possession of the Somerfield family. John Thomas Somerfield took great pride in his mill and gradually restored it to pristine condition. The tower was clad with new weatherboarding and new sails were fitted. The mill continued to work by wind until 1923 when a spring sail was shed, which brought to an end its working life. The machinery was removed and sold in 1927. The cap was removed to be replaced with corrugated iron. In its later years a portable steam engine or tractor could also drive the internal machinery by belt and pulley.”
The mill was a white one, with a high boat-shaped cap of the sort common on drainage mills in the Fens as well as on Sneath’s mill at Long Sutton. This had a weathervane over the rear gable. The smock was flared at its base.
The mill was derelict into the 1970s when it was converted to a house. Although the cap, sails and machinery were not restored the work has been done very tastefully with the original framing of the structure, whose importance is recognised, preserved.
EDENHAM, Lloyd’s Mill
Post mill, gone
This mill was winded by a tailpole fitted with a windlass(1).
(1) TMS September 1940.
EPWORTH
Brooks’ Mill
Tower mill, standing today (tower only; machinery stored at Skidby mill)
SE781045
This was a squat mill with four floors, the top one being high(1). A new iron windshaft was inserted in the old wooden one, which was bored to take it(2). The brakewheel was wood, the sack hoist spindle iron, the upright shaft wood and iron(3). The great spur wheel had only four arms(4). There were two pairs of peak stones and one pair of burrs. One of the bell alarms was rung by a projection on the governor spindle.(5) One of the spouts to the hoppers contained a sifter and there was a shutter in it to control the flow of meal(6). Latterly there was provision for working by engine via a secondary upright shaft(7).
(1) HRH in HESS
(2) RW in HESS
(3) HRH in HESS
(4) RW in HESS
(5) HRH in HESS
(6) RW in HESS
(7) HRH in HESS
Maw’s Mill
Tower mill, standing today
SE777047
The tower had five floors. There were two fireplaces on the ground floor with chimneys at second-floor level. On this floor were two pairs of burr stones and one of peak. The shutters were wire-framed and the fanstage was deeper than usual in the district.(1)
(1) HRH in HESS
Thompson’s Mill
Tower mill, standing today
SE784034
The tarred tower had five storeys. The brakewheel was wooden with an iron cog ring. The sack hoist was also of wood. There was latterly an electric hammer mill, plus a flour machine driven by the engine via an auxiliary upright shaft, on the ground floor.(1)
(1) HRH in HESS
FALDINGWORTH Stamp’s Mill
Tower mill, standing today
TF068849
There were half-stocks in addition to the cross to carry the sails. The latter were springs with coil springs lying along the backs. The iron windshaft was 5 and a half inches square at the brakewheel and at the tail and eight and a half inches diameter at the neck. It had a stone neck bearing with a wood thrust pad.(1)
(1) RW 1953
FIRSBY
Tower mill
The shutters on the sails here worked upwards, as at Halton Holegate, an advantage of this being that there was less weight on the chain. Three pairs of stones, two French and one grey, and a dresser were driven.(1)
(1) HESS
FOSTON
Post mill, demolished 1966
SK860423
Of the post mills still standing in Lincolnshire in 1951, when they were examined by Rex Wailes, this had the largest buck, the floor measurements being 17 feet by 11 feet. The quarterbars were 10” X 12”. The breast was flat apart from a slight projection at the weatherbeam(1). The white-painted body, its roof covered with felt, stood above a brick roundhouse which is thought to have been added when the mill was moved from a previous site in 1760, which would have made it one of the oldest roundhouses known.(2) It had vertical walls up to about 5 feet, then tapered, and was quite narrow with the piers projecting through the brickwork(3). In Midlands fashion a wide petticoat, serving as a roof, was attached to the bottom of the buck along with a set of rollers which ran in a track on top of the walls. This served to keep the mill from pitching when running and therefore to take some of the strain from the top of the post.(4)
The sails were made from old telegraph poles on the Great North Road. One pair were spring and the other half common and half spring; this was the owner’s idea and not found elsewhere.(5) The springs were of the usual Midland coil type(6). The windshaft was wooden with an iron poll end(7), a neck brass of thorn and a naturally curved tailbeam. The brakewheel was an all-wood clasp-arm 9ft in diameter, with beech cogs having the very coarse pitch of 5”.(8) The iron brake was fitted with a small weighted lever(9). The tailwheel was also clasp-arm. Two pairs of stones were mounted side by side in the breast, on a hurst frame on the lower floor of the buck, and underdriven through spur gearing. At one time there was a pair of overdriven stones in the tail but they were later removed, the tailwheel being retained to drive the sack hoist from its forward face (Rex Wailes in HESS; Hawksley contradicts this stating that the drive was from a drum on the windshaft). The hoist had formerly been driven by a friction wheel from the inside of the brakewheel rim(10). The iron wallower was mounted on a wooden upright shaft(11) which was 12” in diameter and almost square above the great spur wheel(12). The latter appears from R Hawksley’s description to have been almost solid with only one pair of clasp arms. It had an iron cog ring on the rim for the stone drive and another, which Wailes calls a “bevel gear”, on top for a flour machine (referred to by Wailes as a “corn screen not unlike a wire machine”) which was mounted high up on the left side of the lower floor.(13) The governors were mounted on the stone spindles, and the bridgetrees and brayers were wooden. The sack hoist was in the form of a wood pulley from which a slack chain was driven(14). This chain, which came down just behind the post, left score marks on the windshaft(15).
Latterly milling was carried out by engine. The windows in the upper floor of the buck had rounded tops while those in the lower were circular.(16)
(1) HRH in HESS
(2) RW 1951
(3) HRH in HESS
(4) RW in HESS
(5) RW 1928
(6) HRH in HESS
(7) Ibid
(8) RW 1951
(9) HRH in HESS
(10) RW in HESS
(11) HRH and RW in HESS
(12) HRH in HESS
(13) Ibid
(14) RW in HESS
(15) HRH in HESS
(16) Ibid
FREISTON, Scrane End, Richardson’s Mill
Tower mill (TF390428)
The circular upright shaft was of iron and 7 inches in diameter, tapering to 5 inches at the brass, but square at the great spur wheel mounting, on the stone floor but of wood and 16” square above. The all-iron great spur wheel was 6ft diameter. There were three pairs of overdriven stones, two on the north side in round tuns with wood hoppers and horses and a pair of 4ft 6” burrs without furniture on the south side. A single governor on the northwest side of the mill apparently controlled all three pairs. The iron mortice stone nuts were one and a quarter inch in diameter. The engine drive was on the east side; the external pulley on the ground floor was mounted on a two and a half inch diameter layshaft from which the drive was transmitted by a pair of bevel gears, 16” and 1ft 9” diameter, to a 3” square secondary upright shaft and then by a 14” diameter iron mortice nut to the great spur wheel.(1)
(1) HESS
FREISTON, Brumby’s Mill
Tower mill
This mill had wheel-and-chain winding gear. The clasp-arm brakewheel had teeth in the form of crude pegs like a trundle wheel.(1)
(1) RW 1953
FREISTON, Tamworth Green, Skinner’s Mill
Smock mill, gone
This smock mill had the framing outside the weatherboarding, unless extra timbers had been added on to reinforce the structure. The ogee cap was hand-winded and the striking rod was mounted on a frame outside the cap with bracing to it above. The windshaft was iron, the great spur wheel wood. There were three pairs of overdriven stones, two French and one grey, which could be driven by belt from a steam engine in a shed alongside the mill.(1)
(1) HESS
FRISKNEY Tofts
Post mill, gone
TF481554
Said to have been built in 1720, this was a small open-trestle mill with a rear extension to upper side rail level to accommodate the flour dresser on the first floor. “TC 1730” was carved on the centre post. It is sixteen-sided and tapers from 24” to 15”. The crosstrees, 12” wide by 13” deep, were taken from a ship which was burnt out on the sands at Skegness. The quarterbars were 11” wide by 12” deep.
The mill had four common sails, which could turn one pair of stones without any canvas on them, showing the small amount of friction in the windshaft bearings. They were mounted on a cross on a wooden windshaft which was 17” square at the brakewheel, 14” square at the tailwheel and round between. The cross had a ten-foot span. The brake- and tailwheel were wood clasp-arms, 6ft 6” and 6ft diameter respectively, with iron segment teeth of 3” pitch. Two pairs of 4ft 2”(1) stones were arranged head and tail. The sack hoist drive was by a slack chain from a wooden pulley in front of the tailwheel. The wire machine drive was from the right hand side of the wheel by a mortice skew bevel pinion, at one time in the possession of Rex Wailes. There were two small wooden four-bladed wind indicators, projecting half outside the mill, on the first floor.(2)
Inside the mill was a panel on which was inscribed “Joseph Wakelin kept this mill in the years of our Lord 1733 to 1754”(3) .
(1) HESS
(2) RW 1928, 1951
(3) HESS
FRISKNEY, Kitching’s Mill
Tower mill
TF466547
The four-storey tower was of red brick. At one time the mill had two pairs of stones, one peak and one burr, but latterly there was only one grey. There were two single-shuttered and two double-shuttered sails, and the brakewheel was iron.(1)
(1) HESS
FRISKNEY, Hoyle’s Mill
Tower mill
TF481567
A small three-storey mill, thirty feet high, whose cap, straight-pitched with sloping front and rear gables, was winded by tailpole with a winch and a chain attached to one of eight posts fixed at intervals around the mill. The curb was dead. The windshaft was of wood and 17” square at the brakewheel.(1) It had a with a flint bearing(2) and a cross for the two common and two spring sails. The latter had coil springs lying along the back of the sails. The machinery was mainly wooden with very little ironwork being used. Rex Wailes was told that some of it came from a much older watermill, and that the mill was built by a baker from Louth. The brakewheel was 6ft in diameter with teeth of four and a half inch pitch.(3) The wallower was clasp-arm(4). Two pairs of 4ft 6in stones were overdriven on the first floor(5) and there was a dresser(6). The miller, Mr Hoyle, said the mill worked very smoothly and never showed any signs of wear(7).
(1) RW 1928
(2) HESS
(3) RW 1928
(4) RW 1953
(5) RW in HESS
(6) HESS
(7) Ibid
FULLETBY
Tower mill
According to a Mr Burnett this mill was probably a very old one. The machinery was undoubtedly of some antiquity and nearly all wooden. Simmons states “The wallower was not bevel-geared but at right angles with {the} teeth on the brakewheel”(1).
(1) HESS