Hi folks. I just updated my data on Lytham Windmill for my online history. Has anyone any comments, corrections or additions? 1190 - Lytham’s first windmill was built this year. It was a peg and post mill, and was actually located between where Lytham Hall and St Cuthbert’s Church now stand, not on the green as otherwise reported. The Lytham Windmill is often wrongly touted as Britain’s oldest. The windmill was rebuilt on the green in 1805, by Squire Clifton, who leased it to Richard Cookson. It has been suggested that it was originally built in 1762, but this has not been proven. It is a matter of record that in 1805 Richard Cookson obtained a lease from Squire for a plot of land on which to build a “windy milne”. The mill had three pairs of grinding stones - one French pair, one gray pair for meal, and one pair of shelling stones. Attached to its rear was a corn drying kiln, which was used until 1881, when a new one was built at Kiln Street at East Cliffs. Ships would drop anchor by the mill, and offload oats or corn for processing and return. In 1860 the mill gained a “new” grinding stone – it had only been used in Wrea Green Windmill for 150 years beforehand. The mill’s fantail was added in around 1870, thus saving the miller from having to turn the cap by hand. In 1900 the mill was given a set of self-reefing patent sails. Instead of the old sailcloths, these had shutters which operated automatically to spill the wind. They were much longer than the present dummy sails. At over 40 feet in length, they almost touched the top of the plinth. The mill was worked continually until a fire on the 2nd of January 1919 burnt out the interior. A strong wind had turned the sails too quickly and a spark had ignited. Its last miller was William Swann. The windmill was given to the people of Lytham by Squire Clifton in 1921. The burned-out the shell was then restored and given a new cap and a set of dummy sails. Over the years it was used as a café, as the HQ for Lytham Cruising Club, the Motorboat Club, and the Sea Cadets, an Electricity Board sub-station until 1964, and lastly as part of a Tourist Information Centre. In 1989, the windmill was restored by Fylde Borough Council, and opened to the public on the 20th of March. Lytham Windmill is now a museum, run in partnership by Fylde Borough Council and the Lytham Heritage Group.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 18:03:28 +0000
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