Mount Pleasant Mill

Last updated August 21, 2019

Mount Pleasant Mill is a windmill north of Kirton in Lindsey on the North Cliff Road in North Lincolnshire in the east of England (Yorkshire and the Humber).

A windmill is a structure that converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Centuries ago, windmills usually were used to mill grain (gristmills), pump water (windpumps), or both. There are windmills that convert the rotational energy directly into heat. The majority of modern windmills take the form of wind turbines used to generate electricity, or windpumps used to pump water, either for land drainage or to extract groundwater. Windmills first appeared in Persia in the 9th century AD, and were later independently invented in Europe.

Kirton in Lindsey, also abbreviated to Kirton Lindsey, is a small town and civil parish in the North Lincolnshire district, in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west from the A15 road, and approximately 7 miles (11 km) south-east from Scunthorpe. The town was the home of Catherine Parr.

North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 at the 2011 census. There are three significant towns: Scunthorpe, the administrative centre, Brigg and Barton-upon-Humber.

Construction

It was built in 1875 for miller Edric Lansdall as a four-patent-sailed, slightly tapering four-storeyed tarred tower mill with onion-shaped cap and fantail on top of the remaining roundhouse of a previously erected post-mill. The junction between the former roundhouse wall of hand-made bricks and the newly superimposed tower made of machine-moulded bricks is almost indistinguishable. On the second floor, the stone floor, originally three pairs of millstones (two pairs of peak stones (grey stones or greys) and one pair of quartzite (French stone)) were driven, of which only one grey pair remained. This peak stone is cut from rock millstone grit quarried in the Peak District of southwest Yorkshire and northeast Derbyshire, England.

A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.

A fantail is a small windmill mounted at right angles to the sails, at the rear of the windmill, and which turns the cap automatically to bring it into the wind. The fantail was patented in 1745 by Edmund Lee, a blacksmith working at Brockmill Forge near Wigan, England, and perfected on mills around Leeds and Hull towards the end of the 18th century. Fantails are found on all types of traditional windmills and are especially useful where changes in wind direction are frequent. They are more common in England, Denmark and Germany than in other parts of Europe, and are little-known on windmills elsewhere except where English millwrighting traditions were in evidence.

Quartzite is a hard, non-foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to grey, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink and red due to varying amounts of iron oxide (Fe₂O₃). Other colors, such as yellow, green, blue and orange, are due to other minerals.

The mill has had a namesake windmill in Stockton-on-Tees, built around 1790 as an 8-storeyed four-sailed stage-windmill of ca. 80 ft height in reverse colours (white painted tower with black onion-shaped cap) and demolished around the late 1920s.

Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England. The town has a population of 85,000, with a population of around 196,000 in the wider area, the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, according to 2017 estimates by ONS UK.

History

Mount Pleasant Mill worked by wind until 1933 and by a diesel single cylinder Crossley engine until 1973. Fred Banks, who ran it then, also owned Alford Windmill. It is the only windmill in the area beside Heapham Mill with original and unrestored equipment and machinery of the 1920s and 1930s. The original cap with the oak cap frame is still in place. The original windshaft, wallower, upright shaft and great spur wheel are made of cast iron, as are the tooth ring of the wooden brakewheel with its timber clasp arm construction and wooden brake, all installed in the 1930s. A refinement to the mill is the elevator to replace the old sack hoist which worked off the underside of the wallower by a friction ring, and the elevator to feed the first floor bin (3rd floor) for the hurst frame. This is a massive timber frame supporting the transfer gearing and heavy mill stones casings, helping to reduce the vibration of the turning mill stones and their wheels (stone nuts). It is a separate structure inside the mill tower thus reducing the transfer of vibrations and noise into the building itself.

Alford Windmill historic windmill in Alford, UK.

Alford Windmill is a five-sailed windmill in Alford, Lincolnshire and the only surviving windmill out of four. Today the windmill has been restored to working order, and grinds grain to organic flour. It is open as a tourist attraction.

Cast iron iron or a ferrous alloy which has been liquefied then poured into a mould to solidify

Cast iron is a group of iron-carbon alloys with a carbon content greater than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its colour when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impurities which allow cracks to pass straight through, grey cast iron has graphite flakes which deflect a passing crack and initiate countless new cracks as the material breaks, and ductile cast iron has spherical graphite "nodules" which stop the crack from further progressing.

A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which rope or chain wraps. It may be manually operated, electrically or pneumatically driven and may use chain, fiber or wire rope as its lifting medium. The most familiar form is an elevator, the car of which is raised and lowered by a hoist mechanism. Most hoists couple to their loads using a lifting hook.

The mill was restored in 1991 and is a commercially working flour mill, making organic flour which is sold to the public. There is a tea room for visitors.

On 29 November 2015 the windmill was severely damaged by high winds, causing two of the sails and the tail-fan to be torn off - some pieces landing 200 yards (180 m) away. The mill was shut for two weeks and is now up and running through the use of electric motors powering the French burr stones and the Derbyshire peaks. Business is continuing as usual producing a range of organic flours and fresh breads using a wood-fired oven.^[1]

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References

↑ "Mount Pleasant windmill damaged by 'exceptional' winds". BBC News. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.

External links

Mount Pleasant Windmill

Coordinates: 53°28′58″N0°35′10″W / 53.4827°N 0.5862°W / 53.4827; -0.5862

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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[1] "Mount Pleasant windmill damaged by 'exceptional' winds". BBC News. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.