Building record MYO657 - HOLGATE WINDMILL

Summary

A Lincolnshire-styltower mill built to the specificattions of John Smeaton for the grinding of corn. Built between 1770 and 1792 on a site which has contained windmills since the 15th century. The mill was repaired as a landmark in 1939 after milling had ceased. Built of brick and bitumen. Cap covered with painted steel plates. Largely restored in 2007.

Location

Grid reference SE 5841 5147 (point)
Map sheet SE55SE
Unitary Authority City of York, North Yorkshire
Civil Parish York, City of York, North Yorkshire

Map

Type and Period (3)

Full Description

Wind-powered corn mill, now disused. Built between 1770 and 1792 on a site occupied by windmills since the C15; repaired as a landmark in 1939 after milling ceased. Brick, painted with bitumen. Cap covered with painted steel plates. PLAN: circular EXTERIOR: 5 storeys high, battered up to the level of the 3rd stage. At ground-floor level there are doorways with segmental arches on the west and east sides, the western doorway now blocked internally. Most of the windows have segmental heads. To the left of each doorway there is a blocked ground-floor window. The upper storeys have 6 staggered windows. The brickwork is corbelled below the round cap, which has a ball finial. The mill was unusual in having 5 sails, but these were removed following gale damage in 1930 and only the wooden stocks remain. The fantail was also removed, but projecting main timbers remain. INTERIOR: recorded by RCHM as having plastered internal walls, softwood ladders, and 4 upper floors with pine beams and stop-chamfered joists but with floorboards removed. Also recorded as having machinery largely intact, with a pair of millstones of gritstone and a second pair of French Burr stones, an iron main drive, and stone-nuts with a metal frame carrying wooden cogs. This is the last surviving windmill of the many which once functioned around the City of York. (RCHME: City of York: London: 1972-: 57).
Listing NGR: SE5841951477

Derived from English Heritage LB download dated: 22/08/2005

NMR Information:

No further description provided.

1 List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest 1112-1 York, 14-JUN-1954
2 Mill News: the Newsletter of the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Monuments 13-16 113, OCT-2007

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Record last edited

Aug 27 2019 11:04AM

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