Wimbledon windmill

In 2017 I visited Shirley windmill and decided I would visit the other 3 remaining windmills in London. It took me just over a year to go to my second windmill, Wimbledon. Wimbledon is a suburb in southwest London and the mill is situated on Wimbledon Common. As a child I used to go ice skating on the frozen King's Mere pond on the common.

Wimbledon Windmill Museum is open on Sat and Sun from March - October. The mill opened in 1817 and had its bicentenary in 2017 and to celebrate this, admission is free.

The mill had a relatively short working life as it closed in 1864 and became accommodation for 6 families. It is a tower mill, like the one at Shirley.

Inside on the ground floor is an exhibit of many different tools and artefacts

and info on the development of windmills. There is an interesting display of working models of different types of windmill, including this Wimbledon mill -

Wimbledon mill

Upstairs are further displays explaining how the mill worked. and how grain was milled to produce flour. There is a small room preserved as it would have been in 1870.

A steep staircase goes up to the next level in the tower and you can look directly up to the top workings of the mill, and see the large cast iron brakewheel. This wheel used to turn the shaft that ran down the centre of the mill to the large spur wheel on the ground floor.

The sails have been fully restored and are occasionally run on windy days.

See more on the Wimbledon Windmill page.

Also my visit to Brixton Windmill in 2019.