Bourn windmill

The mill may date to the first quarter of the 16th century. The tree that forms the main post of the mill was felled at some point after 1515. The earliest record of the windmill at Bourn is in a deed of 1653, stating that John Cook had sold the mill to Thomas Cook in 1636. The 1653 deed conveyed the mill from Thomas Cook to William Smythe, a blacksmith from Caxton. In 1779, the mill was leased by John Butler, a farmer in Bourn. He bought the mill in 1799. Smythe died in 1832, leaving the mill to his niece Mary Heywood, of Huntingdon, and her husband Elieze. They sold the mill in 1836 to Joshua Hipwell, of Toft for £550. Hipwell died in 1866 and the mill passed to his son, William. It was…

Bourn Mill is an open trestle post mill. The body measures 14 ft long by 10 ft wide. It having been extended at the tail to accommodate a bolter. The mill is 31 ft high at the ridge. The mill has four sails, two Commons and two Patents. These are carried on a wooden windshaft with a cast iron poll end. They drive two pairs of millstones, arranged head and tail.