Restoration
Restoration Plan (2025)
It is expected that work will commence late 2025 and extend over a 24-month period.
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This section of the website will be updated as major tasks are undertaken.
Current Situation (2023 to 2025)
By 2023 it was clear that the structure needed to be stabilised to prevent eventual collapse.
A survey by Luke Bonwick provided a comprehensive report and the findings of this were used to obtain a grant from Wrights Clock Land CIO to fund a restoration back to full working condition.
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The eight cant posts and associated cross-beams were no longer aligned and the curb on which the cap and sails travel around on was distorted. The consequence of this was that the sails could not move to face the wind and the internal drive machinery was misaligned.
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Fulbourn Windmill CIO was set up as the charity to manage the mill through its restoration and into the future.
Partial Restoration (1975 to 2017)
The Fulbourn Windmill Society was set up by local people in 1975 to start a restoration programme.
Over the period to 2017 a continuous programme of works reversed some of the effects of the years of decline and the structure became weatherproof and the sails could turn.
The mill was able to welcome visitors and exhibit the machinery, but was never able to achieve full operation.
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The condition was continually monitored and whilst the appearance was good the inherent structural issues worsened.
Disused & Derelict (1936 to 1974)
Some grinding of animal feedstuffs for local small-holders took place in 1936 and 1937 using the auxiliary power of a tractor to drive an external pulley but effectively Fulbourn Windmill had ended its useful life.
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In 1937 the shutters were removed from the sails and in 1952 the sails were damaged by lightning. The Windmill was left to decay and by 1974 the binders and floors had become so rotten that the Windmill was in imminent danger of collapse.
The Working Years (1808 to 1936)
The Corn Laws introduced during the Napoleonic Wars maintained high corn prices and ensured the success of the mill until they were repealed in 1846.
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Prices fell as the vast grain growing areas of the USA changed grain from being a local rural output to becoming a global commodity and the railways ensured that it could be moved around quickly.
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Industrialisation provided steam driven mills that were both powerful and predictable and co-locating these with railways brought efficiencies and market change.
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In 1933 the Windmill was struck by lightning and 'split from top to bottom on one side’ and in 1936 another storm blew the fantail off. The commercial imperative to fully repair no longer existed and it ceased commercial operations in 1936.
Construction 1808
Fulbourn Mill was built in 1808 following local enclosure when one acre on Mill Hill above Fulbourn was allocated to John Chaplin, a local landowner and farmer. Thomas Hunt, millwright of Soham, built the 42’ high smock mill consisting of a brick base with a wooden tower topped by a copper clad cap.
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Grain milling commenced in December 1808.
Timeline
