Shirley Windmill

Shirley Windmill - Tuesday 16th July 2013

Shirley Post Mill, located just off Upper Shirley Road, is open on the first Sunday of the month from June to October but BBHLS were fortunate enough to have a private visit on a glorious day. It was built on the site of an earlier mill which burnt down and rebuilt in 1854, which makes it one of the last such mills to be built in Britain. It is a tower mill built of brick on top of which sits a cap protected by weatherboarding. Despite its weight, the entire cap with four sails attached is capable of rotating into the wind via the fantail, a mechanism invented by Edmund Lee in 1745, which connects with a toothed rack running around the top of the brick tower allowing the cap to move.

Between 1951 and 1990 the Mill was surrounded by classrooms and school children while it stood as the most dominant architectural feature of John Ruskin School. On demolition of the school, the Mill then found itself part of a suburban housing estate but at 17 metres high (54 feet) with five floors beneath the cap remains a dominant feature. The sails are unusual, being slighted twisted like aeroplane propellers to capture the power of the wind. They are attached by means of a windshaft to a brake wheel which transfers the wind power to all floors of the mill which despite its size could be safely operated by the miller and an assistant.

Click on an image below to see a larger version.