Sails removed from historic Bursledon Windmill

2:19pm Tuesday 27th March 2012 in Heritage News

The sails of Bursledon Windmill are removed by crane The sails of Bursledon Windmill are removed by crane

The winds of change were blowing for a historic Hampshire landmark this morning.

A two-year restoration project at Bursledon Windmill began with its huge wooden sails being carefully detached with a crane.

The work is being carried out to replace the windmill's 25ft-long wind shaft, which has begun to rot.

Hampshire County Council, who own the windmill, is not taking any chances with the historic building - as the previous wind shaft was blown off during 1987's famous storm.

It is hoped the windmill will be back to full working condition in time for its 200th birthday in 2014.

Area curator, Tom de Wit, said: "When it all goes back together for its 200th birthday, it's going to look fantastic and certainly fit for another half century."

Comments(12)

Jimbo2012 says...
2:52pm Tue 27 Mar 12

For those who want to see a working mill while this is being restored I recommend Eling Tide Mill. Admittedly not a wind mill but a working tide mill where you can even buy flour ground at the site.

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Buntylicious says...
3:13pm Tue 27 Mar 12

I saw the crane this morning and wondered what was going on - it was huuuuge!

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Stillness says...
4:27pm Tue 27 Mar 12

No mention of the cost to a cash strapped county council I see.

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dango says...
5:13pm Tue 27 Mar 12

Stillness wrote:
No mention of the cost to a cash strapped county council I see.
probably a darn site less than the cost of repair had the shaft rotted through and the sails crashed to the ground.

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Stillness says...
5:20pm Tue 27 Mar 12

dango wrote:
Stillness wrote:
No mention of the cost to a cash strapped county council I see.
probably a darn site less than the cost of repair had the shaft rotted through and the sails crashed to the ground.
Yeah right. Like we need a windmill.

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dango says...
5:38pm Tue 27 Mar 12

Stillness wrote:
dango wrote:
Stillness wrote:
No mention of the cost to a cash strapped county council I see.
probably a darn site less than the cost of repair had the shaft rotted through and the sails crashed to the ground.
Yeah right. Like we need a windmill.
yeah, what use is heritage and history eh?

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Stillness says...
5:49pm Tue 27 Mar 12

dango wrote:
Stillness wrote:
dango wrote:
Stillness wrote:
No mention of the cost to a cash strapped county council I see.
probably a darn site less than the cost of repair had the shaft rotted through and the sails crashed to the ground.
Yeah right. Like we need a windmill.
yeah, what use is heritage and history eh?
Very little to me. What do you use it for? You can gain lessons from the past and the lesson we gained is that there are better ways to grind flour. Move along now old chap.

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Poppy22 says...
11:52pm Tue 27 Mar 12

We need a windmill in this area so that children of the future will know what a windmill is, not wonder what one was! And so that we retain something historic and attractive between the gridlocked M27, A27 and opposite the ugly huge Tesco's and car boot sale site! There's very little of the past left in this area due to all the building of the last 40 years or so, so let's keep something in place!
And volunteers do much of the work at the Windmill, with not a lot from the Council in the way of a budget.

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Poppy22 says...
1:31am Wed 28 Mar 12

Just seen the Sea museum cost - that makes the Windmill budget look like zero!!

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Urbane Forager says...
9:06am Wed 28 Mar 12

Poppy22 wrote:
We need a windmill in this area so that children of the future will know what a windmill is, not wonder what one was! And so that we retain something historic and attractive between the gridlocked M27, A27 and opposite the ugly huge Tesco's and car boot sale site! There's very little of the past left in this area due to all the building of the last 40 years or so, so let's keep something in place! And volunteers do much of the work at the Windmill, with not a lot from the Council in the way of a budget.
I totally agree with Poppy22 and Dango above - I visited the windmill at Bursledon with my young children several years ago. We were allowed to climb right up inside and the man in charge then set the sails and the wind began to turn them. He then lovingly toured us through all the wooden mechanism right down to where the flour pours out (we bought a bag of course).
The whole experience was educational and awesome, both for me and the kids.
I'm not sure that you are allowed right up inside the mill any more, due to health and safety concerns.
It can be difficult to attach a specific value to our heriatage and history but most reasonable people (Philistines excepted) would be able to see that it is well worth preserving what beauty and wonder we have still have left.

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OSPREYSAINT says...
1:13pm Wed 28 Mar 12

Just imagine if there were NIMBYs 200 years ago, they would have had it banned as an eyesore!

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Redondo Saint says...
5:57pm Wed 28 Mar 12

Stillness wrote:
dango wrote:
Stillness wrote:
dango wrote:
Stillness wrote:
No mention of the cost to a cash strapped county council I see.
probably a darn site less than the cost of repair had the shaft rotted through and the sails crashed to the ground.
Yeah right. Like we need a windmill.
yeah, what use is heritage and history eh?
Very little to me. What do you use it for? You can gain lessons from the past and the lesson we gained is that there are better ways to grind flour. Move along now old chap.
What a truly stupid statement to make.

Stillness - clearly an apt description of what gones on in your head.

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