Maud Foster Windmill is a seven-storey, five sail

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in so ...

located by the Maud Foster Drain in

Skirbeck Skirbeck is a suburb and former civil parish in the Borough of Boston in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Skirbeck is a long v-shaped formation wrapped around the south and east side of Boston parish. It has been incorporated into the Bo ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

, from which she is named. She is one of the largest operating

s in England being tall to the cap ball. The tower mill and adjoining granary is grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. The mill was built in 1819 for Isaac and Thomas Reckitt of Wainfleet. It was repaired and restored in 1988.

History

The tower mill was erected on Willoughby Road on the east side of John Rennie's Maud Foster Drain for Thomas and Isaac Reckitt by the Hull millwrights Norman and Smithson in 1819. Corn for the mill was brought in by

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...

along the drain. The original drawings and accounts survive, telling us that it cost £1826-10s-6d. The Reckitt brothers were millers, corn factors and bakers until poor harvests in the years up to 1833 led to the mill being sold. Isaac Reckitt moved to Nottingham and then to Hull where he set up Reckitt & Sons. The Ostler family bought the mill in 1914 and ran the business, known as Ostler's Mill, until 1948 when it closed and the mill fell into disrepair. In 1953 Isaac Reckitt's great grandson, Basil arranged for two Reckitt family charitable trusts to finance essential repairs by Thompsons of Alford and, in the same year, the mill was listed as being of exceptional interest. In 1987 the mill was bought by James Waterfield and his family who restored her in 1988 to fully working order being now the most productive windmill in all England. The mill is open to visitors who may climb all seven floors and see the milling process in action and enjoy views of the town from the balcony. The mill shop sells flour and porridge.

Structure

The seven-stage mill tower is constructed in gault brick and has Yorkshire

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s with segmental heads on each level. It is topped with an

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinati ...

cap made of white painted timber and canvas and has five sails and a fan tail. At the third floor level is a wooden cantilevered balcony on timber brackets. The mill is accessed by a pair of planked doors up three stone steps. The three-storey granary is built in red brick and has a

hipped In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region ...

pantile A pantile is a type of fired roof tile, normally made from clay. It is S-shaped in profile and is single lap, meaning that the end of the tile laps only the course immediately below. Flat tiles normally lap two courses. A pantile-covered ro ...

roof with dog-toothed

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

. The granary has four

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

, the second bay occupied by planked taking-in doors and the other three by Yorkshire sash windows with brick segmental heads. Above the taking-in doors is a timber-planked and

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aest ...

d lucam on timber brackets.

Equipment

Maud Foster Mill - Three Stones - geograph

The mill retains its original floor beams and mill machinery from 1819 by

millwright A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...

s Norman and Smithson of Hull. The mill has three sets of grinding stones and is in working order. The mill has five instead of the more usual four patent sails, the shutters of which are now at Wrawby

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. All p ...

. An unusual feature is the weather beam (or 'rode balk') which is made of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impu ...

, probably replacing the original wooden one. The brake wheel is a wooden clasp-arm type with an iron tooth ring and wooden brake. The wallower is also made of iron with a wooden friction drive to the sackhoist. The dust floor is more spacious than is often found in Lincolnshire and is lit by windows. Three pairs of grinding stones, two grey and one French, survive on the fourth floor with vats, spouts etc. all intact. The great spur wheel is made of iron, as is the upright shaft. The stone nuts have wooden cogs, as usual. The spout floor gives access to the reefing stage and contains a fine governor which controls all three pairs of stones. The bridge trees are made of iron and are Y-shaped with integral bridging boxes.

References

Notes Citations

External links

{{Commons category, Maud Foster Windmill
Maud Foster Windmill website

Maud Foster Windmill photograph

Images from Geograph
Windmills in Lincolnshire Museums in Lincolnshire Mill museums in England Tower mills in the United Kingdom Grinding mills in the United Kingdom Windmills completed in 1819 Multi-sailed windmills Grade I listed buildings in Lincolnshire Grade I listed windmills Buildings and structures in Boston, Lincolnshire