The sails are back!

Following the dramatic events of 2nd August when one of the sails sheared off our iconic Grade II* listed Windmill, and the remaining three were removed for safety reasons, the skyline of the Commons changed quite dramatically.

The Windmill without its sails looked forlorn....and we have not been alone in missing the sails. Regular visitors to the Commons have all been taking an interest in the repairs and particularly in when the sails would be coming back.

Well, much to everyone's delight, that day finally arrived on 9th November!.  

For the last 15 months, our staff and the Windmill Museum Trustees have been working hard to organise not only the repairs, but to get the funding to pay for them.  We were extremely fortunate to be given a grant of £100,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund and a further £10,000 was donated by local residents.

Despite the appalling weather conditions in the morning, experts from millwrights, Owlsworth IJP, under the direction of specialist architects, Marcus Beale Associates, successfully reinstated the sails.

Asif Malik, Chairman of the Windmill Museum Trustees commented "The Windmill on the Common is an iconic image which many people associate with Wimbledon. Without its sails, it seemed that the Wimbledon horizon was incomplete. For the museum of windmills which is contained with the windmill building, it meant fewer visitors as the sight of scaffolding made people think that this was a building site and not an active Museum. So it is with great pleasure that we see the sails reinstated and the scaffolding removed. Once again, we can see the splendid complete appearance of the Windmill. This has happened with good timing as we will be celebrating the bi-centenary of the Windmill in 2017. We have started preparation of several celebratory events during the year, and we will post information on the websites for WPCC and the Windmill Museum. This is an exciting time for the Windmill and for the Museum!"

Chief Executive of the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators, Simon Lee, added, “After an absence of just over fifteen months, the sails to the Wimbledon Windmill were today re-installed. The Conservators and Windmill Museum Trustees are grateful to those who play the lottery, helping through the Heritage Lottery Fund to secure funding to restore the iconic Grade II* listed structure. The operations by our specialist millwrights Owlsworth IJP, went very smoothly and the major capital works are now nearly complete, just in time for the bicentenary celebrations in 2017.”

We had a photographer on site who photographed and video'd the whole process and a selection of images telling the story of the day are in the gallery below.

There is further work to be completed, particularly the replacement of the balustrades at a cost of some £15,000 which was not part of the HLF project, and anyone wishing to make a donation to the restoration fund can do so by contacting Paula Graystone here at the Ranger's Office.