Stansted Mountfitchet Windmill
The Mill was built by Joseph Linsell and his wife in 1787. They also built a Malthouse and a villa here.
Over the course of the next century, the Mill was modified to incorporate technological advances in windmill design, principally the change from common canvas sails to patent shutter sails in 1857.
Running a mill was financially perilous. At least four people have become bankrupt, or nearly, operating the Mill. After Linsell sold it (1807), it was often run by tenant millers, and was put up for auction three times. The Industrial Revolution meant that other means of grinding grain were increasingly adopted.
James Blyth, later to become the first Lord Blyth, bought the Mill in 1887. His son instituted initial preservation work on the Mill, an activity which has been continued to the present day. The Mill was “conveyed for the benefit of the inhabitants of Stansted” by the second Lord Blyth in 1935.
The Mill was last worked, for crushing oats, in 1910.
During World War II, the Boy Scouts took over the Mill as their HQ. They left in 1963.
In 1964 the Mill was opened to the public for the first time.
In 2003, the August Bank Holiday was stormy: lightning struck the Mill while it was full of visitors. The lightning conductor did it’s job, and it has since been upgraded.
In 2010 the curb was restored as part of a major restoration. The cap is now able to turn to the wind at all times.
The Mill was scheduled as an Ancient Monument in 1952 and is a Grade II Listed Building.
