ONE night in 1911 Wethersfield had a free fireworks display complete with
enormous Catharine Wheel when the windmill burnt down.
A windmill can only be used when you have got the wind, whatever the hour,
and it is said that the miller was grinding at night when he dropped his
lantern coming down the steps.
By the time he got to the bottom things were well well alight so he had
to get out. The sails continued to circle round until the mill collapsed,
a sight remember all their lifetime by the village youngsters. George
Gould recalls in his diary:
On the site whereon stands the house known as Mill House stood the old
windmill owned
by a Mr W Joyce. Deeds
show that this mill was built in the year 1775. Mills at that
time did all the grinding
for the farmers
and were kept busy for the farms were all well-stocked with cattle. The
outstanding feature about this mill was the fact that it ran for several
years with two sails. This was brought about owing to the sails getting
into a bad state of repair, one getting almost useless, having to be removed
and as
The miller, Bill Joyce, first left, front row, with blacksmith Morgan Gibbs, back, second left and tailor Bill Squires, front row third left.
This grand old landmark was in the end burned down late one April night in 1911 and a better sight one can hardly imagine when all the weatherboards had burned off, leaving the whole structure alight, including the two sails, it seemed that the old mill wanted to show off her paces just once more and to everyone’s delight the sails started to revolve and continued to do so until the whole structure fell in flames.
The repair of these windmills was carried out by travelling millwrights. The millstones were also dressed, or chipped, by men who travelled from mill to mill to carry out this work of art, for a lot depended on how the stones were dressed.
Wethersfield had other mills. The Steam Mill was used for the grinding corn for meal, etc, wheat into flour and for crushing. The mill itself was a rather low, two-storey building and was situated at the bottom of the chaseway, with its pathway leading to West Field, backing on to the school playgrounds
Steam mill that ground animal feed, with men demolishing it
The Water Mill was, in my youth owned by Mr Sam Fitch and is situated at the far end of the village, close to the road at the bottom of the hill which leads to Shalford.
The death of many of these old mills was of course, brought about by the introduction of small mills on the farms themselves, some of which were driven by an old portable engine stationed outside the barn. Some used oil engines. In most cases today electric power has come to the farms to drive all the machines so without much doubt it is goodbye to our old mills.