Behind The Mill...

This wonderful Lincoln windmill is located on Mill Road, so called due to the nine windmills that formerly faced west over the steep slopes of the Lincoln Edge.

Ellis Mill is now the sole survivor of these mills and an excellent example of a small tower mill. The Mill dates from 1798 but there has been a mill on this site from at least the middle of the 17th century.
The first recorded owner of Ellis Mill was a wealthy landowner named Anthony Meres. It went through a succession of owners until December 1894 when John Ellis bought the mill for £250. He died in 1920, but his wife and son successively retained ownership until 1973.

The mill was worked until the 1940s when the machinery was removed and it fell into dereliction. Tragedy struck further when a fire finally destroyed all of the remaining woodwork in 1974.

The Lincoln Civic Trust acquired the Mill in March 1977 and set about its restoration. First, the tower was cleaned and the floors and cap re-constructed. It was then necessary for replacement parts to be found that fitted the dimensions of the existing tower.
The cap mechanism was acquired from 'Subscription Mill' in Sturton-by-Stow and the stones and drives from 'Eno's Mill' at Toynton-all-Saints. The sails and fantail were built and erected by Thompson and Co., millwrights from Alford.

The Mill was finally completed in 1980 and on Sunday 26th April 1981, Ellis Mill ground its first flour for 40 years.

The Mill is still in full working order and provides flour, subject to sufficiently windy days! The Mill is now managed by Lincolnshire County Council but would not run without the group of devoted volunteers who help maintain, staff and promote the site.

This windmill was the first ever thing that I photographed with my parents old Kodak film camera, a camera I fondly remember you having to pull apart and push back together to wind the film on. This alone is what I think triggered my love and obsession, especially after my Dad enlarged the print for me and it ended up in the local rag.

I was really hoping the windmill would be facing me but as Sod's law would dictate, it wasn't to be. However I quite like seeing it from this different perspective.