Windmill Sails

Gransden Windmill gets its new set of sails

Many of you will be aware of the ongoing restoration of Gransden Windmill. Indeed, many local people have helped with various aspects of these tasks over recent years and we are extremely grateful for such support. 

In 2012, the last set of sails (which had been erected in 1981) had to be removed from the mill when it was discovered that they had deteriorated so much that they were no longer safe. A considerable amount of other necessary repairs to the building were also identified and the subsequent restoration programme over the last 11 years has needed considerable careful planning and a lot of fundraising.

We are delighted to announce that we reached a major milestone in the restoration when a new set of sails were erected on Gransden Windmill on Wednesday 19th April. The sails were expertly built by local craftsman carpenter John Vinnell. Following their construction they required many coats of paint, which were applied by local volunteers.

Many local people were interested to see the process of fitting the sails and watched from a safe distance on the day. The work was supported by two large cranes (from JT Cranes on Caxton Road) which lifted the heavy timbers into place. A small zone around the mill and the cranes was marked off with cones and tape in order to keep onlookers safe during what was quite a tricky and potentially hazardous operation.

Since we started the current restoration of the mill in 2012, the work has gone through a series of important phases. Firstly, the trestle that holds up the whole structure was replaced with new timbers and suitably protected. The main body of the mill (‘the Buck’) was then rebuilt, with the majority of the main structural beams that had been installed in the 1979-81 restoration in pine, now replaced with new oak timbers and a new tailpole and access ladder were constructed.  The roof timbers were replaced along with completely new weatherboarding. We are enormously grateful to Bill Griffiths, a very experienced millwright from Suffolk, who undertook much of the skilled and specialist work to rebuild and repair the Buck between 2014 and 2016 on contract to Cambridgeshire County Council who own the mill.

Gransden Windmill is a very historic structure and is recognised not only as a Grade II Listed Building but also scheduled by Historic England as an Ancient Monument. We have needed to be extremely careful therefore during all the repairs that have been undertaken to preserve all of its remaining historic fabric. This includes all the original timbers retained in an earlier restoration programme (1979-81) and which had survived from when the mill was last operational just before the First World War in 1912. However, these historic timbers are mostly much older than this and scientific dating of them in recent years has shown that they have their origin in several earlier phases of rebuild during the working life of the mill. Some of the oldest such as the main post and the crown tree, the largest timbers on which the full weight of mill is supported, date back to when the current mill was built around 1628-1640, nearly 400 years ago!

The next stage in our restoration plan is to get repaired and recommission all the internal machinery of the mill so that we can return the mill to a functional state and eventually even grind corn to produce flour! Then all visitors will be able to see and appreciate how this remarkable piece of rural engineering actually worked, including how the mill can be rotated to follow the wind and how the sails drive the pairs of millstones.

Major funding for the windmill restoration has been provided by Wren (a heritage trust supported by landfill taxes), Historic England (who provided grants for both the buck and the new sails projects) and also Cambridgeshire County Council, the owners of the mill and the plot of land on which it stands. We are also enormously indebted to the many volunteers, individual local residents and local businesses (and even “The Revellers” drama group) who have contributed both in their time and in funding to help us reach this point. 

John Vinnell, the skilled professional carpenter based in Great Gransden, has built the splendid new sails that we will be erecting on the mill on 19th April. He did this to detailed designs produced by Dave Pearce of Cambridgeshire Windmills Consultancy. Dave is a highly experienced local millwright, who has led a team over the last 30 years to restore the splendid Smock Windmill in Wicken village near Cambridge to full working order. 

The technical work at Gransden has been guided by Dave Pearce and also supported by the team of millwrights involved in the Wicken Windmill. The regular work at is being carried out by a local team of volunteers based in the Gransdens, led by Martin Davies who also manages the historic aspects of the project, but also particularly including Ray Hewett, Pip Smith and Glyn Williams of Great Gransden who together have contributed enormously to what has been achieved in the restoration project so far. Many local villagers helped paint the new sails.

As the project continues to progress over the coming months and years, there will be many more opportunities to help for everyone who is interested to do so.  We are keen to open the mill for visitors and are will do this just as soon as we can complete the necessary steps to make the mill safe for everyone. We are confident that in due course it will become a popular local attraction and an educational resource.

We urgently need to raise more funds both for smaller elements of the restoration that were not covered by the major grants and also to ensure we can undertake necessary ongoing maintenance.  Please consider the Gransden Windmill Project and be prepared to respond positively to appeals for practical and other help and financial support in the coming months, as we continue to restore the windmill and further improve the site so that everyone locally can benefit. Meanwhile, thank you to you all for your help and support so far. Together, we can do this!

For further details about the sail lift on 19th April or anything else to do with the Gransden windmill project, please feel free to contact me or another member of the windmill team.

Thank you

Martin Davies
07786 514004