Heage windmill

The Windmill Heage or Heagewindmühle [iːdʒ] is a stone Erdholländer windmill ( Grundsegler ) or tower Dutch windmill in Heage , Derbyshire , England from the year 1797 with a rare six-fold patent wing cross (since 1894), which was completely restored and made available to the public by 2002 has been.

history

One unusual advertisement was the first reference to a windmill in Heage, Derbyshire , in Derby Mercury on June 16, 1791: “Heage windmill is to be built. Every bricklayer, inclined to take on the stone work, should work on the mill construction, all material is in place. ”In 1798 the Dutch mill was in good condition for rent in Heage, with a compass rose, two grinding aisles and a plansifter, visible from afar on a hill Well positioned for wind. It can be assumed that the mill was completed in 1797. In 1850 the brothers Isaac and Joseph Shaw took over the mill as millers and general merchants. Instead of the four sail blades, the mill received four new patent blades with shutters and an improved wind rose. It was in operation until 1894, when in February of that year a strong gust in a violent storm hit the canopy together with the wing cross directly from behind. The wing axis (then made of wood) broke off behind the corrugated head, the canopy, wing and compass rose were torn loose and fell down. A contemporary photo from 1894 shows the patent wing with a quadruple cross lying on the floor and the comb wheel with the rest of the axle protruding from the covered cap. When rebuilding the cap, the decision was made to use six venetian blinds and thus more drive energy. Joseph and Enoch Shore, the sons of Thomas Shore, and later his grandson TJ (Tom) Shore operated the mill until 1919. A painting by Müller Thomas Shore was made a few months before the shutdown after renewed storm damage: A strong gust had large parts of the wind rose destroyed, plus the emerging economic windmill situation - both of which led to the closure of the mill, turning it into ruin over the next 50 years, as a photo from 1955 shows. In 1961 lightning struck and completely destroyed the wings and compass rose, except for the rods and the holder. In 1966 there was a building protection order with a grade II building declaration (grade II listing). In 1968 the Derbyshire County Council bought the mill for £ 350 and subsequently fitted a lightning rod to it which successfully protected the mill. In 1972 the mill received new wings, and in 1989 and later individual "open days" were held, on which up to 500 volunteers cleaned the desolate mill and the surrounding area and made minor repairs. The "Heage Windmill Society", founded in 1996, took on the restoration and complete repair of the rare windmill with success, with the support of other groups such as "Friends of Heage Windmill" and "The Midlands Mills Group". Cap, compass rose and machinery (especially all gears) were repaired or replaced under appropriate conditions to preserve the originality, modern facilities (electrification, sanitary, fire protection) were installed on site, a new access road with a parking lot was created. Fully restored, it has been fully operational again after its damage-related shutdown in February 1919 since June 1, 2002. The public celebrated the opening of the only windmill capable of windmills in Derbyshire with great participation. Today it grinds grain again, welcomes visitors with a program (including "Miller's Day" etc.) and is a landmark of the area, an international and national meeting place for various groups and unique in the world.

In 2006 it received two new wings (£ 10,000 per wing) due to wood rot and continued grinding with four wings until it was replaced. The current windmill is Brian Naylor.

description

The Heagewindmühle is an Erdholländer windmill (ground sail) with a rare six-fold louvre wing cross and a slightly conical stone mill tower, made of local natural stone, unplastered with originally only four wings. In England and in this country it would also be called a tower windmill. The mill has four floors: flour floor (meal floor), stone floor (stone floor), bulk floor (bin floor) and dust floor. The mill has a canvas-covered onion hood with a ball and compass rose for turning the cap into the wind, which is closed on wooden lamellas with wooden panels in between. For a while it had a dark aluminum hood. Six patent wings each with 21 lamellas / patent wings are mounted on a six-fold wing shaft head ("Lincolnshire Cross") and forged wing shaft and are controlled (adjusted) from the inside by the corrugated head by spider (set of control rods). Here, like with five, seven (very rare) and eight wings, they lie in one plane in contrast to the two pairs of wings lying on top of one another in two planes with four wings. The powerful brake wheel (≈3.4 m) sits on the wing shaft: It consists of individual wooden segments with iron teeth, which drives the iron crown wheel (wallover) together with the wooden vertical shaft (vertical driveshaft). The large spur wheel (wood with iron teeth, English great spur wheel) to the lower end of the shaft drives the two grinding stages (millstone inserts ) on the stone floor from above : a pair of French freshwater quartz millstones of the highest quality from La Ferté-sous-Jouarre near Châlons-en-Champagne (Châlons-sur-Marne) and a pair of granite millstones (runner stone weighs about 1 ton) from the own county of Derbyshire . Modern installations (safety devices, fire protection) fit perfectly into the well-preserved interior of the over 200 year old mill. Information boards provide information about the function of the mill, grinder and stone grinding. The website offers u. a. an impressive virtual tour with explanations through the mill.

Mill data

Tower height: ≈9.4 m (30.84 ft)
Canopy Height: 14.73 m (76 ft)
Mill wing span: 18.5 m (48.32 ft)
Weight of the six-fold wing cross: ≈4.3 t
Wind rose diameter: 3.08 m (10.10 ft)
Diameter of comb wheel: 3.43 m (11¼ ft)
Weight runner stone: ≈1 t
Base outside diameter: 7.5 m (24.60 ft)
Grinds: 2

Individual evidence

Web links

Commons : Windmill Heage - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

[1] Derbyshire pronunciation table

[2] storical description of the windmill (eng.)

[3] Photo 1894

[4] Virtual tour through the Heage windmill