Restoration
Updates Archive Page.
After a somewhat worrying week
of high winds and rain we enjoyed a lovely sunny day
on 23rd September. It was a momentous
occasion when the new sails, which had been recently
hoisted on to the Mill, were officially inaugurated
by Patricia Herrmann O.B.E., Vice Chairman of Essex
Environment Trust.
The team of fourteen volunteers
running the event had everything ready to greet over
one hundred and fifty “Friends” and to show
them how much had been achieved in the five years,
almost to the day from the commencement of the work,
by the combined efforts of the Trustees and the many
“Friends of the Mill”, who have been
supporting and assisting on the project over the last
five years.
Most of the Heritage and
Restoration organisations, who have made grants to
the project, had sent a representative. Patricia
Herrmann, during the “Opening”, made many
kind and encouraging remarks regarding the efforts of
the community and the remarkable spirit that prevails
in Ashdon village. As a person who has been involved
in similar projects throughout Essex for many years
her compliments should not be taken lightly.
Unfortunately due to the
changes that have been made in the regulations which
govern Essex Environment Trust, ashdon is no longer
in the area in which they may provide funding for
heritage projects. We have therefore lost a valuable
supporter who through their Chief Executive, Keith
Derry, gave us much support and inspiration since
2001.
However, the inauguration
ceremony went well and at the close of Patricia
Herrmann’s address – the sails really
turned. At first I thought this was due to cheering
by all the visitors but then I saw it was Vincent
turning the sails by hand! It was nonetheless a
stirring sight and something that the Trustees and
all our supporters have been waiting for. The sails
had stopped in 1912 and have not, to our knowledge,
turned since, until now.
Although there were too many
people involved in the inauguration to name everyone
I have to give special thanks to the team of tour
guides headed up by Alan Hardy, who created the video
presentation of the restoration and volunteer
“guides“ roped in at the last minute –
Sue Feldman, Sarah How, Chris Tibbs and George
Goddard, Peter Connatty for his mobile lunch bar,
Marion Wrigley for driving the shuttle bus all day
and Tim How who controlled the cricket club car park
and Mill Lane ensuring no traffic problems.
We now have to build on this
major achievement and restore the roundhouse next
year before we can install the millstones together
with the various pieces of machinery that drive the
stones.
Hopefully Alan Hardy will be
organising the New Year stagger on 1st
January so keep an eye on the Village notice boards
and the website – http://www.ashdonwindmilltrust.co.uk
Don’t forget we have a
selection of useful gifts for Christmas and a call to
Andrew (584 339) may solve a present problem.
So a big thank you to everyone
for your support on behalf of all the Trustees and we
hope you and your families will all enjoy Christmas
and the new image of the “Mill on the
Hill”.
All best wishes.
John Double
Chairman
ASHDON WINDMILL –
SAILING ON
For the benefit
of newcomers to the Village and as a reminder, I
thought we should recap the long, hard but rewarding
steps to restoring the windmill
Following the initial public Village meeting in April
1999, when the possibility of restoring the Windmill
was discussed and it was unanimously agreed it should
be restored, the first question asked afterwards was
– when will the sails be put on?
Well, as you will have seen, the sails were “put
on” in July and by the time you read this they
will have been officially opened on 23rd September by
Patricia Herrmann O.B.E., Vice Chairman of Essex
Environment Trust.
However, it was not as simple as it sounds! At the
meeting in 1999 we immediately called ourselves
“The Friends of Ashdon Mill” but before we
could accept the conveyance of the Mill from Thurlow
Estate we had to form a Company and register it as a
charitable trust. When that was completed we had to
obtain planning permission and historic building
clearance, as the Mill is a grade II listed
historical building. The planning permission was
conditional on our building two passing places in
Mill Lane and a car park at the Mill, which meant we
had to go back to Thurlow Estate to request a further
piece of land for the car park, which was generously
agreed, and obtain further planning approval.
At the same time as all the administration and legal
work was taking place we were obtaining estimates for
work, making applications for grants, visiting and
being visited by prospective funding organisations,
who supported Countryside and Heritage protection and
preservation.
The “Friends of Ashdon Mill” grew rapidly
in this period and we had over 100 donations in the
first year, which also kept the pressure on us and
gave us the courage to face the daunting prospect of
having to raise over £150,000. Thurlow Estate had
promised us a donation of £25,000 as soon as we
could raise £25,000 ourselves, so that was our first
target. The Essex Environment Trust was quite
impressed with the community spirit and gave us a
tremendous boost when they awarded us a grant of
£40,000 in 2001, we knew then we were really in
business.
We hastened to our Millwright – Vincent Pargeter
– to let him know we could now pay him and the
preliminary work started in September 2001, almost 4
years ago to the official opening date.
The most urgent work at the time was to stop the Mill
collapsing or falling over! The Mill had been leaning
progressively to the left and the front end, where
the sails are, was leaning more than the rest, so
that it was becoming twisted.
The Mill had to be strapped up inside with steel
straps and carefully straightened by tightening the
straps gradually, to avoid splitting or breaking the
main timbers. In March 2002 the Mill was trussed up
with an exterior timber scaffolding, by a massive
cross braced “A” frame to support it, while
the main timbers were repaired or replaced. When you
visit the Mill you will see how big the main timbers
are and will readily appreciate why this took a long
time.
We were completely mystified and lost in admiration
as to how Vincent was able to build the frame on his
own, as the “A” frame props were 26’
long and about 10” square. The horizontal
joining pieces “the needles” were of a
similar size and about 25’ off the ground. Later
when the Mill received new white cladding, he then
built a gallery just under the roofline to repair and
clad the roof.
While all the work continued in 2002 and 2003, we
were still seeking funds and eventually were awarded
a grant of nearly £45,000 by The Heritage Lottery
Fund in July 2004, to restore the steps, tailpole and
build new sails. Vincent who is a very busy man,
being one of the top Millwrights in England, was
unable to start right away on this work so we had to
wait but he prepared plans for the sails, which we
also had to submit for “planning approval”.
He also located a supplier of the special
Scandinavian white pine timber for the sails, which
was laminated by a firm in Denmark for strength and
durability. The making of the sails was carried out
in Vincent’s huge workshop at Ingatestone and
brought over to the Mill in pieces by a
‘large’ lorry and re-assembled on site.
They then had to be partially taken apart so that
they could be hoisted and threaded through the sails
socket on the front of the Mill by a high lift
hydraulic crane and wedged into position.
This is now history – but not a lot of people
know about it. We still have to restore the
roundhouse and fit out the interior of the Mill with
the millstones, which we have, and machinery, which
we do not have, but at least we now have a Mill which
looks the part up on the hill overlooking the
Village, as it did 250 years ago.
We shall continue to raise funds for all the further
work and have to thank everyone in Ashdon for their
support, not only in donations but also for their
assistance “on the ground” with all the
equipment this requires. Also the various Village
groups and societies who have contributed – the
Bowls Club, The Ashdon Players, The Lady Quilters ,
The Parish Council and descendents of William Haylock
who built the Mill.
Finally the three original Trustees Andrew Eyles,
David How and myself plus Nick Finlayson Brown, who
was co-opted, and saw us through all the tangled web
of legalities, have been joined by Peter Connatty
(2002), Alan Hardy and Andrew Noakes (2006). In view
of the changing roles, we now have to play with
structural work nearing completion, the additional
Trustees will help to continue the ongoing research
and maintenance.
The Trust is a Village Trust and the Mill is
therefore owned by the Village in perpetuity and will
always be part of our heritage.
John Double
Chairman
September 2006
Our
annual meeting for Friends of Ashdon Mill was held at
the Village Hall on 22nd April. Unfortunately Vincent
Pargeter, our Millwright, was unable to come, so we
did not learn how to design sails for windmills.
However, David Bidwell presented a photographic
history of Ashdon, which was both interesting and
amusing – Helen, Brenda and Elizabeth provided
supper.
We have already had a number of open days at the Mill
including some special interest groups –
unrelated to Mills – who wished to see how the
restoration was proceeding. One rather unusual
visitor appeared from nowhere complete with camera,
fortunately on a day when David just happened to be
counting the nuts and bolts. After a quick tour the
visitor happily roamed about on his own taking
photographs. After some while, when David had
finished what he was doing, he proceeded to lock up
and had just put the locking bar across the door
before inserting the padlock when he had second
thoughts in case the visitor had left anything –
on reopening the door he came face to face with the
visitor who was still taking pictures in the almost
dark interior. It was quite a shock - and a narrow
escape for the visitor from being locked in a lonely
Mill. He had come from Dorset and was on his way to
Suffolk and had picked up information on the Mill
from the tourist bureau.
The National Mills Weekend was quite successful when
seventy visitors or so visited the Mill, apart from
regular “Friends” we also had visitors from
Harlow, Brighton, Colchester, Nottingham and one lady
from Louisiana. We were also very fortunate in that
John Scott, who has painted two pictures of the Mill
at different stages of the restoration, very kindly
arranged for some postcards and notelets to be made
from his pictures, which were very popular with our
visitors. He is also proposing to paint a further
picture when the sails are fitted. We are very
grateful to John for his generosity. The weather was
decidedly “iffy” but those on duty
throughout the weekend were able to have a “base
camp” in the luxury of Peter & Sarah
Connatty’s caravan, which they kindly loaned to
us for the weekend.
The Bartlow “Three Counties Walk”, prior to
the Open Day, also used the Mill as a staging post
and many of the walkers took the trouble to stagger
round the Mill, including 3 boys from Moscow.
The sails arrived and were fixed to the mill on 5th
July 2006. A thing of beauty. Vincent Pargeter the
Millwright has made a wonderful job of their
construction. Please see below, and the image
archive, for recent photographs. We will be arranging
a very special open day to celebrate!
John
Double June 06
Christmas
has come and gone since the last update and spring is
nearly with us. The tail pole and steps are now
complete. Vincent Pargeter has made a splendid job as
always. We ordered the Timber for the sails on
Vincents instructions and we are very pleased to
report that the sails are now under construction and
if all goes well, should be completed at the end of
May/early June. We are unable to give a fixed date
for the fitting of the sails, as this is very
dependant on the right weather conditions, but we
anticipate this to be done by the end of June/early
July. This is of course an exciting and major
milestone in the restoration of the mill and
preparations are under way to commemorate this
wonderful event. When in place and finished the sails
will be able to turn, provided we have a wind of
Force 5 to 6 on the Beaufort scale and the Mill
turned into wind. It will have been over a Hundred
years since the Mill has been seen with sails
revolving and will be a marvellous tribute to
everyone who has contributed to the project thus far
and to Vincents craftsmanship.
01
Mar 06
The
work on the tailpole and steps has taken rather
longer than we had hoped and even as I write the work
is not quite finished. We shall of course let
everyone know when the tailpole and steps are back in
place. Work on the roundhouse has been delayed by
this and is unlikely to start in the winter weather
but we still have plenty of homework to do on this.
During the Village Arts and Craft weekend in October
we were very grateful for the loan of a picture of
the Windmill drawn and painted by John Scott, a well
known local artist living at Sewards End. John is
actually planning a total of three pictures of the
Windmill, the final one to include the sails. We hope
to have them all on show in due course.
Kevin Curtis our "Grounds man and temporary
supplier of electricity" has bravely continued
to keep our grass under control this Autumn despite
the weather and a period of ill health. We are
grateful to Kevin for his valuable and practical
support.
Peter Connatty is working on the flood lighting of
the Windmill at Christmas and is seeking to improve
the illumination over last year.
Andrew Eyles is organising the annual autumnal tidy
up of the hedges and trees with the assistance of the
usual ground works team, which should improve the
visibility of the Mill - particularly from the
Radwinter Road.
Next year will we hope be a momentous time for the
Windmill as we confidently hope to see the sails in
place. Due to all the delays and problems we have
experienced David has obtained an extension of time
with the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete the work
next year but dare I say it may not be all plain
sailing!!
We still have to raise funds to make up the balance
of the lottery funding, about £6,000. We are very
grateful to all the people who have been kind enough
to send donations. As we are now approaching the
critical time we may be sending out gentle reminders
to our other supporters.
The
Ashdon Annual Pantomime was again a marvellous effort
by all involved and very well received. Every year it
never disappoints. The Pantomime Committee have been
very generous in donating to four village charities,
one of which is the Mill. We are extremely grateful
for the marvellous donation of £400-00 and we look
forward to its inclusion into the sails next year.
The Trustees and I wish everyone a very happy
Christmas and all good wishes for the New Year.
John Double
Chairman, December 2005
Our annual
meeting for the Friends of Ashdon Mill was held on
30th April at the Village Hall and proved to be a
very pleasant evening - with a difference . After the
Chairman's report, Vincent Pargeter's progress report
and the delicious supper provided by Brenda, Helen
and Eileen, we were entertained by Nick Rumble who
among other things is a trained opera singer! He sang
several arias from La Fleidermus and also various
well known classical songs. He also provided 'hymn'
sheets so we had a general sing song as well. As a
reward, everyone sampled the specially created
"Windmill" chocolates. The creator was the
Essex Chocolate Lady, Julia Haylock-Sherry of Steeple
Bumpstead, who is distantly related by marriage to
William Haylock who built the Mill! The chocolates
were delicious and the connection a remarkable
coincidence.
Our range of merchandise is growing, we now have our
branded sweatshirts in children's sizes too but the
chocolates are only in one size.
Following the Friends Meeting we had the National
Mills Open Weekend on 7/8 May when people from far
and wide - Brighton, Lincoln, and London visited the
Mill, about seventy over the two days. The weather
was not very kind, with regular heavy showers, but
Peter and Sarah Connatty kindly brought their caravan
up to the car park and brewed tea about every half an
hour, so everyone was pretty relaxed.
In the week before the open weekend, Peter Jamieson
and David were checking the brickwork of the
roundhouse and found, behind an ancient curtain of
cobwebs, some coloured drawings which have a little
mystery about them! There are, for example, a picture
of a French lady Mme Fauget with a traditional French
hairstyle and a French man sitting at a desk with a
"daffodil" telephone with various papers
spread out. There is also the visible the remains of
a "Tricolour", together with a Union Jack
which is flying from an orange or gold flagpole. The
style seems to be between WW1 and WW2 but who are Mme
Fouget and Monsieur?
In addition to all these amusing events, work on
phase III of the restoration quietly continues. We
now have a design for the new sails, which have been
submitted to the Uttlesford Planning Department and
Vincent Pargeter is now working on the steps to the
Mill - which will shortly disappear to his workshop
for repair and renewal as appropriate. Until the
steps reappear, and are refitted, there will be no
open days but we may be able to show our interesting
drawings by appointment.
The treasure hunt for some of the missing Mill
machinery has been delayed, as our information leads
us to believe the parts may be nearer to Little
Walden - if they still exist, however more on this
later.
When we know about the timing of the repairs to the
steps we will publish a list of open days. In the
meantime if you would like some windmill chocolates
contact David and for other things contact Andrew.
John Double