London - Wimbledon Common, Windmill - art card - c.1970s

Postcard ?
• Picture / Image:  Wimbledon Common - art card by Hilary Nadler?, 1977
• Publisher:  the artist?
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition:  blank backed card - possibly intended as a quasi-postcard publication

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Wimbledon Windmill (grid reference TQ 230 725) is a Grade II* listed^[1] windmill situated on Wimbledon Common in the London Borough of Merton (originally in Surrey), in the west of South London, and is preserved as a museum.

An application to build a windmill on the Common was denied in 1799 when the applicant, one John Watney, failed to produce plans for the proposed mill when requested. In 1816, Charles March, a carpenter of Roehampton applied for permission to build a windmill. The request was granted the following year and the mill was built. The mill stopped working in 1864, when the miller was evicted by the Lord of the Manor, Earl Spencer, who wanted to enclose the common for his own use. The miller insisted on removing most of the machinery so that the mill could not be operated in competition with his other mills at Kingston. The main mill building was rebuilt with brickwork to provide living accommodation.^[2]

The enclosure of the common was strongly opposed by the local people, who successfully got the 1871 Wimbledon and Putney Commons Act passed, handing the care of the commons to elected and appointed conservators. In 1892, tenders for the repair of the mill were sought by the Commons Conservators, and Messrs. Sanderson & Sons tender of £240 was accepted. Royal Wimbledon Golf Club contributed £50 towards the cost of the repairs. During repairs, it was discovered that the main Post and Crosstrees were rotten and Sandersons proposed converting the mill to a smock mill, at a total cost of £350. The work was reported as being complete in November 1893. The original Patent sails were replaced by a shorter set of sails with fixed shutters. After the loss of a sail in the 1920s another set of sails with fewer shutters was placed on the mill.^[3]

During World War II, the mill was camouflaged with a drab green scheme to reduce its visibility, as it was in close proximity to army camps set up on the Common. The mill was repainted after the war ended, but the sails were stopped in 1946 due to excessive wear in the gearing. In 1952, the mill was inspected and a list of repairs drawn up. After a public appeal in 1954 to raise funds, the mill was restored and the sails turned again on 25 May 1957. The mill was restored again in 1975 and turned into a museum. In 1999 a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the Patent sails to be restored to working order.^[3] The museum, initially only on one floor but extended to two in 1999, depicts the story of windmills from their early origins up to the present day, using models, examples of machinery and tools of the trade. A room from one of the smaller apartments is preserved to illustrate how the building was used as accommodation. It is no longer a working mill, but a finely detailed model shows the machinery as it was in its working days.

Wimbledon Windmill was built as a hollow post mill, with the drive to the stones passing through the centre of the main post. It was a hollow post mill for its entire working life, but was rebuilt as a smock mill when it was preserved in 1893. The mill has double Patent sails and is winded by a fantail. The windmill has an octagonal brick base of two stories, above which is a conical tower formerly housing the main post. The cast-iron windshaft carries four double Patent sails, and a 6 feet (1.83 m) diameter cast iron Brake Wheel with about 60 wooden cogs, which formerly drove the cast-iron Wallower carried on a cast iron Upright Shaft. A Spur Wheel at the lower end of the upright shaft would have driven the millstones on the upper floor of the mill. The conversion from Hollow Post mill to a Smock mill was done by Sanderson's, the Louth millwrights.^[4]The Mill House of Wimbledon Windmill is where Robert Baden-Powell stayed in 1902 and wrote parts of Scouting for Boys,^[4] which was published in 1908. Wimbledon Windmill also featured in the Doctor Who episode titled The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (Bell of Doom) which was filmed in 1966.^[5]

type=printed

london borough=merton

period=post-war (1945-present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100 mm)