1975 Working Party reconstituted for immediate work on the Windmill. Replacement of the weatherboarding of the smock begun. The staircase in the roundhouse made safe. Shutters of the sails and fantail retrieved.
1976 Preparation of the Windmill for treatment against infestation and rot, with a guarantee until 2001 A.D.
1977 Replacement of the weatherboarding. The skirt of the cap replaced. Repairs to the joists of the roundhouse floor. A window inserted at the top of the staircase to the stone floor.
1978 New floor for the roundhouse. Binders and joists of the stone floor repaired or replaced and new floor begun. The horse of the northern stone repaired.
1979 Completion of the roundhouse and stone flooring. First Open Day.
1980 Bin floor binders replaced, a new floor laid over them and the trap doors made. The brickwork at the bases of some cant posts renewed.
1981 The fantail machinery dismantled. Repointing and retarring of the roundhouse begun. Tentering gear treated for rust, repainted and fitted with belts. A grain hopper on the bin floor rebuilt and two windows on that floor repaired and painted. The wallower freed from the brakewheel to allow the sails to be turned.
1982 One pair of sails taken down, the stocks and whips of which needed replacement. Retarring of the roundhouse and repainting its two windows completed and the smock creosoted. Stone crane dismantled, treated for rust and painted.
1983 New stocks fashioned from two railway signal posts of straight-grained timber. Safety bars repaired and all this new woodwork painted white. New whips and sailframes begun. One Cant post replaced.
1984 New stocks hoisted into place by crane and safety bars fixed. Weatherboarding refixed on one face with greater overlap and the corners of the smock fitted with felt tiles. Cap recentered correctly on the curb.
1985 Whip and sail frames for the new stocks completed, painted and fixed. Others for the remaining sails begun. A cant post refooted. New spoke for the brakewheel made. Section of the brake fitted.
1986 Second pair of stocks and safety bars repaired. Whip and sail frames completed, painted and fixed. The northern wall of the stone floor and its framing renewed. Further maintenance of the cap and hatch door. Work on the renewal of the fantail staging and a curb section.
1987 Fantail Project A-frame completed. Curb rollers cleaned and painted.
1988 Sails jacked-up and supported and neck-bearing and pillow blocks removed. Work begun on repairing the weatherbeam.
1989 Weatherbeam repaired, new pillow blocks made and fitted. The cap housing over the neck-bearing replaced. Neck-bearing cleaned and replaced. Section of curb replaced.
1990 The bearings at the top and bottom of the vertical shaft were freed and cleaned. On the ground floor four telegraph poles had been used to help support the first floor. These were removed and two wooden pillars and additional wall plates inserted, this considerably improved the appearance of the ground floor.
1991 The sack hoist was rebuilt. Most of mechanism had either fallen or had been removed when the restoration started, but all the parts were available. The curb ring was over six inches lower on the north face where the weight of the sails had been resting for over fifty years. It was not possible to jack up the whole of the Mill so it was decided to build up the curb to make the cap level.
1992 The cap was rotated until the sails faced south and a hydraulic jack used to lift the rear of the cap while work took place. The curb was built up using wide oak planks glued in place with resin. The original cast iron running rail was installed. A new steel strip was fitted around the inside surface of the curb under the centering wheels. The Vertical shaft had to be realigned when the cap was level. The stones on the east side were freed and turned again after many years.
1993 On 24 January with a strong wind blowing, the sails were released and they turned for the first time for sixty years. Scaffolding donated to the working party was erected at the rear of the Mill for work on rebuilding the gallery and future work on the cap. The rotted beams that supported the gallery were replaced .
1994 With the beams replaced, the gallery walkway and railings were erected. Two new grain bins were built on the top floor. The Tentering screws were freed and cleaned so the stones could be raised and lowered.
1995 The major project was to re-cover the cap with copper. This entailed removing the old covering of copper, zinc, lead and felt that had been used to patch the cap to make it waterproof over the years. Some of the original boards had to be made good before we recovered the whole cap with ply board to strengthen it and make a good surface for the copper sheets. Lead flashing was placed around the timber beams to drain away the water from the cap. The finial was refitted to the top of the Mill
1996 Two new clamps were fitted to one pair of sails. This major project was completed by the working party without the use of a crane. The sails, gallery and the A-frame for the fan were painted. Three new cap truck wheels were fitted to aid the cap turning.
1997 The mechanism on the fantail was cleaned and painted and reassembled following photographs that were taken in 1981 when it was dismantled. The spider gear was reinstalled after considerable restoration work. Many of the parts were broken and had to welded. The striker rod was replaced and the spider gear worked when a new chain was fitted.
1998 The staircase from the ground floor was considerable strengthened as a precaution against the number of people visiting the Mill on Open Days. A new fan was constructed and fitted to the A-frame.
1999 It is planned to put some shutters on the outside of sails. The shutters will be attached to the sail frames in such a way that they can easily be inserted or removed. This will allow the sails to turn on special occasions, but will not invite damage from gales or strong gusts of wind when not in use. The working party would like to be able to run the Mill for demonstration purposes. The weatherboarding on the Mill sides was replaced early in the restoration with too little overlap and it is planned to re-board the Mill, using the majority of the old boards.
2000 Loose plaster was removed from the walls of the ground floor and cracks cleaned out and filled with a lime based cement in keeping with the original materials, The lintels over the two doors and one of the windows was replaced with new oak. Work started on renovating and renewing the shutters.
2001 The Mill was reboarded with a greater overlap to the boards, approximately three quarters of the boards were reused. Work started on fitting the shutters to the sail frames.
2002 Sixty-four shutters are being covered with sail cloth and the hinges fitted to the shutters ready to fit to the sail frames. Work started preparing wood for making new teeth for the underdrive gears.
2003 -2006 Due to wet rot, one of whips had to be replaced - also a major overall of the fan to replace rotting timber. All joints were sealed with mastic before repainting. The underdrive teeth have been removed and we are now cutting new teeth using seasoned apple wood. Spot lighting on display boards have been installed and safety rails fitted to the top floor to conform to safety guides for visitors on Open Days.
Please select from the menu on the left