Wimbledon Windmill Museum Greater London hotels:

Wimbledon Windmill Museum is a museum of windmills housed in the windmill on Wimbledon Common. It depicts the history of windmills and milling using working models and the machinery and tools of the trade, with hands-on milling for children. Wimbledon windmill is a very unusual mill. It has a two storey octagonal brick base, which housed all the working machinery. Above this is a conical tower which housed the post supporting the cap on which the sails are mounted. The post was hollow so that an iron shaft could be taken down inside it to turn the millstones on the floor below. It was therefore known as a hollow- post mill. It was built by a Roehampton carpenter in 1817 to serve the local community. There were already large mills on the River Wandle but the local residents did not trust factory produced flour and wanted to grind their own ‘organically’ produced wheat. The mill stopped working in 1864 when the Lord of the Manor, the 5th Earl Spencer, announced his intention to enclose Wimbledon Common and build himself a new manor house on the site of the mill. Local opposition led to a legal battle lasting six years which was resolved by the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Act of 1871 which handed over the commons to the local community, together with the burden of maintenance and an annuity to be paid to the Spencer family. After it stopped working the mill was converted into living accommodation for six families. One room has been retained to give an idea of the living conditions in 1870.