Structure Name: Woodhorn Mill

Description:
 

Tapered windmill tower dating from the late 19th century (circa 1880), generally agreed to be on the site of an earlier post or smock mill which burnt down in 1853. Although one of the last windmills to be built in Northumberland, it seems to have ceased operating in the early 1900s. Some of the interior floor beams and gearing for internal machinery survives. It seems that the mill also had an external steam engine, used when the wind dropped.

'The outer wall has curve-profiled corbels and high-level sockets which indicate a former reefing stage. It remains fairly intact internally, but with rotted floors. The machinery includes a mortised great spur, with iron stone-nuts to under-driven millstones.'
[Stafford Linsley's annotation]
 

Extant: Yes

Legal Status: Listed Building Grade II

Location: Woodhorn, NORTHUMBERLAND

Eastings: 429850m (view map)

Northings: 589210m (view map)

Position Accuracy: 10m

Positional Confidence: Absolute Certainty

Structure Types Identified: STEAM ENGINE, TOWER MILL

Chronology:

• LATE 19TH CENTURY   Probable date of construction. A date of 1880 is suggested by oral accounts - if correct, it would makeWoodhorn Mill the last windmill to be built in Northumberland.
• EARLY 20TH CENTURY   Mill seems to have ceased operation. Cap removed.
• 1969   Sail-stocks and windshaft removed and broken up.
• 1970s   Tower cleaned and restored.
      Entities Involved:
            ALCAN: Financed restoration.

Notes
 

It is generally agreed that Woodhorn Mill occupies the same site as a 17th century windmill owned by Lord Widdrington.
 

References:

• Images of England
• Keys To The Past
• Northumberland SMR
• Pevsner, N., Richmond, I., Grundy, J., McCombie, G., Ryder, P. and Welfare, H. (2001) The Buildings of England: Northumberland. London, Penguin Books, pp.633-634

The information displayed in this page has been derived from authoritative sources, including any referenced above. Although substantial efforts were made to verify this information, the SINE project cannot guarantee its correctness or completeness.

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