Friston Windmill - History

History

Friston Windmill was moved from Woodbridge by Collins, the Melton millwright in 1812 and erected on land purchased by William and Mary Scarlett. They sold the mill to Joseph Collings in 1812. The mill was worked by several different millers until 1837 when it was purchased by Joshua Reynolds from Knodishall. The mill passed to Caleb Reynolds Wright in 1883 and to his son Caleb Reynolds Wright Jr. in 1924. A pair of sails was removed in 1943 and not replaced due to the shortage of timber. The mill worked on two sails until 1956 and then by a diesel engine until 1964.

In 1965, permission was granted for the demolition of the mill but this was not carried out. Due to changes in planning law, permission had to be sought again in 1968. Villagers were divided as to whether the mill should be kept or demolished and there was much debate in the local newspapers. A millwright was asked to inspect the mill and the decision was deferred for a month. The millwrights’ report showed that the mill was structurally sound and it was agreed in principle that the mill should be moved to the East Anglian Rural Life Museum at Stowmarket, where plans for the museum included a windmill. Meanwhile, money was raised locally and repairs started on the mill in 1971. Permission for demolition was rescinded and on the death of the last miller in 1972 a new owner bought the mill with the intention of preserving it. In 1977, the body of the mill was restored by Messrs Jameson Marshall, millwrights.

In 2003, English Heritage gave a grant covering 20% of the cost of repairs which then needed doing to the mill. In 2004, it was announced that a steel framework was to be erected around the mill in order to allow work on the trestle and body of the mill.

Read more about this topic:  Friston Windmill

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.
    Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)

    The history is always the same the product is always different and the history interests more than the product. More, that is, more. Yes. But if the product was not different the history which is the same would not be more interesting.
    Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)

    It’s not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.
    Norman Mailer (b. 1923)