Tuxford Windmill

Tuxford Windmill

Tuxford Windmill is an early 19th-century tower mill at Mill Mount in the Nottinghamshire village of Tuxford, just off the Great North Road. The mill was erected in 1810 an remained in operation until the 1920s when it was damaged in a storm. It was left to decay until being rescued and restored in the late 20th century.

It is the only independent working windmill in Nottinghamshire and uses grain grown in the field adjacent to the mill - it couldn't be fresher!

The mill is built of red brick, tarred to create a weatherproof black exterior. The circular mill stands three storeys high. There are two window openings at ground floor level and two doorways with 20th-century doors. The tower supports a white-painted cap and four sails with a fantail.

The mill cap and sails

There are three windows on the first floor and a single doorway and the top floor has two more windows. The mill has been completely restored to full working order and grinds flour on most windy days. There is a tea shop and a bakery, with freshly baked goods using flour milled on the premises.

The ground floor is the meal floor, where freshly ground flour is bagged. Wooden stairs lead up to the stone floor, where there are two sets of grindstones, fed by hoppers. A set of steep stairs leads from the stone floor to the bin floor where bags of grain are stored before they are fed into the grain hoppers.

The third floor is the upper bin floor, used for storage. From here you can look up through a metal screen into the dust floor inside the cap where you can see the cogged wheels that transfer power from the sails to the vertical shaft that runs through the centre of the tower.

Behind the tower is an engine shed, which once housed a steam engine, used when there was not enough wind to drive the sails. The steam engine was removed in the 1920s.

The mill runs regular baking classes and offers school visits. It can also be booked for weddings and team-building events.