Impington Mill

[Penners]

I thought you might be interested in some pictures of a smock mill that Mrs P and I recently visited, under the National Gardens Scheme. It's at Impington in Cambridgeshire.

The mill is privately owned by a couple who bought it in 1999 in a very dilapidated state. They have fully restored the exterior to make it weatherproof, and completely rebuilt the sails - which they mounted by hand! They won Cambridgeshire's Historic Building Restoration award in 2007. All of the work has been done by them, with the help of a small band of volunteers. As restorations go, it's fascinating and a truly impressive achievement.

The sails and the central shaft mechanism are operational (we saw the sails turning). The mill is capable of powering two stones, although these have not yet been rebuilt. But the owners are determined that the mill will grind corn again.

Somehow, they have also found time to create a beautiful garden.







Here's their website, with a brief history of the mill: http://www.impingtonmill.org/index.html

I'm sure that one particular member of this forum will already be very familiar with the mill.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I don't know it all that well, although it is very lovely mill, unusual in many ways, but I do see the owner from time to time at SPAB shindigs. Last time I was there was the fitting of the sails day in September 2007:

 

[Penners]

Apparently it started life as a post mill, but was then converted to a smock design. Later it was modified again by increasing the height of the brick tower, to make it much taller - thus more efficient.

 

[philpjuk100]

Ah! an early wind turbine,I wonder if they had planning objections before they could build them?