And now, it's time for the gallery.....

The gallery rails have now been restored/repaired, and new floorboards fitted.

Beneath the gallery, rebated panels both box-in the main shaft and act as grain bin dividers. Some of the original boards were saved, although, sadly, many were so wormy that they were beyond help. We have had to be careful with clearance around the main shaft, as it shows some eccentricity when turned. This could be due to distortion of the shaft or inaccuracies in the shaping of its flats.

The original timbers around the bin floor walls showed evidence of fixings for cladding, presumably to protect the grain from damp. We have started reinstating this cladding with sycamore. The individual boards are tapered slightly to account for the inward lean of the walls; coopering on a grand scale! Unfortunately, the stonework is 'slightly' irregular (sorry masons) so the inward lean is continually varying. Makes for a challenge.

More masonry work and cogging the crown wheel

The North bin floor window has suffered in the same way as it's southern counterpart - invasion by tree roots causing the mortar to crumble. The retained moisture has also caused frost damage to some of the stones. This picture shows the stonework cleared back, to give a reasonably sound starting point for repairs.

As a mental break from the never-ending stones and lime mortar, some recogging of the crown wheel. Good for another hundred years!......

NEWS UPDATE. Mill is open on Sunday 15th May

As part of National Mills Weekend, we will be opening the mill to visitors on Sunday 15th May from 11am until 5pm. Please do come and have a look.

In terms of access, your best bet is to park in Great Haseley, if coming by car, then approach the mill via Back Way and then the footpath/track which leads directly to the mill.

Please be aware that as this is still a 'live' project, the site may not be suitable for the very young or infirm. Unfortunately, there are no facilities at the mill, but hey, that's all part of the charm!......

Putting in the good bits....

They have been waiting in storage for some time, but the two sets of stone furniture were finally installed today. New tuns, horses, hoppers and shoes. Hang on, it looks like a mill suddenly.

Stone floor with new stone furniture added

Closer view of North stone furniture

North stone furniture showing tun, horse, hopper and shoe

Also coming out of storage today was the repaired staircase, leading from the ground floor to the stone floor.
Fortunately, it fits!.. Phew.


Repaired staircase being fitted



No posts for a while, but we have been busy

Note to self - must remember to bring camera to mill....

Anyway, the weeks have gone by and progress has been made on masonry repairs, boarding out the dust floor and removing the brake wheel for repair.



South bin floor window. This used to be home to an elder tree. The roots had caused widespread damage to the mortar, meaning quite extensive rebuilding of the surrounding stonework. We assume the sill was sloped to assist grain flow.




Dust floor under construction, seen from below. The weather has resulted in the boards shrinking slightly, even though the timber was kiln dried! Can we have some rain please.



Windshaft, with brake wheel and brake removed.



The windshaft bearing has 'sunk' into the supporting beam. We recently carried out a repair on the exact same problem at Lacey Green windmill.







Trimming the dust floor for the staircase



Remember our nice clear chimney in the winter? Persistent devils, these rooks.



Beam me up Scotty

No posting on here for a while, but we have been busy!

The top, or 'dust', floor was totally absent, so new beams and joists have been made at the workshop. Lifting of the large beams into the mill was originally going to be carried out with a crane. However, soft ground and access problems led to a decision to manually hoist the beams through the northern bin floor window. Cue strong, cold northerly wind !.....

The ends of the beams were pre-cut into splice joints. With the splice ends removed, this gave a short enough length of beam to manoeuver inside the tower.

Much re-hitching and shuffling later....the beams and splices were finally in place.

Next job will be to fit the joists into the housings which have already been cut.

Prior to this, we have also been fitting replacement lintels to both bin floor windows. This has involved a lot of masonry work, making good the stonework above the rotten lintels - much of which had fallen out.

North beam and splice in position prior to final fixing

Lintels and brass monkeys

This should kill the death watch beetle

A couple of very cold days at the mill saw us resurrecting one of the two fireplaces. Very warming, although if there's too much west in the wind direction, we end up nicley smoked by the end of the day. We must get around to cleaning the other chimney out, on the opposite side of the tower, although it could be a never ending battle against the crows and their deposits of nesting material.



Mid and inner lintels installed

The two new lintels have been installed and the stonework above made good. Sighs of relief all round.... Looking at the window above, the lintels there could be even more 'fun'.