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Museum of East
Riding Rural Life The historic building is located just off the A614 near the village of Skidby and surrounded by picturesque countryside. Built in 1821, the windmill has been grinding grain for nearly two centuries! It produces its own wholemeal flour, ground between one of its three pairs of mill stones and powered by its four 12-metre sails, each weighing more than 1.25 tonnes apiece.
© Jim Eccles 2004 Skidby Mill is a Grade II listed building and the only working tower mill East of the Pennines. The brick tower is painted with black bitumen to help protect from damp penetration, and has a white wooden ogee cap of the Lincolnshire type, developed during the 18th century by John Smeeton of Leeds. It has three sets of grinding stones - French burr, carbon composite and Derbyshire millstone grit. Weather permitting, the mill tower echoes to the rumble and creak of the stones and sails every weekend, as locally-grown wheat is turned into flour. Nowadays, the mill is home to the Museum of East Riding Rural Life, where visitors can explore the history of the farming landscape and its village communities. It is Yorkshire's last working windmill and includes displays showing the history of milling and agriculture in the area. You can sample homemade cakes and pastries made from the Mill's flour at Millers Tea Room which is just next to the Mill. The tea room is open between 9am and 5pm, from Tuesday to Sunday - Why not complete your next visit to Skidby Mill by popping in for a drink or a snack?
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Skidby Mill - A Timeline Study 1316 : The earliest recorded windmill in Skidby (thought not necessarily on the present site) - probably a primitive wooden post mill. 1796 : The enclosure awards of 1796 show a mill and outbuildings on the present site. This was also a wooden post mill and was eventually sold and moved to make way for the present five storied brick tower.
1821 : The present mill was built - making the modern day Skidby Mill over 180 years old. It was built for a Mr Watson by Norman & Smithson, and was originally a much smaller structure. Norman & Smithson installed a carved date stone into the lower part of the tower, immediately above the roofline of the lower warehouse, which can still be seen today. 1854 : Following two successive tenancies, the mill was purchased by a Mr Joseph Thompson, who already owned 'Low Mill' in Cottingham, but subsequently closed it to concentrate his efforts on his new purchase at Skidby.
c1870
: The mill was extended upwards by Mr Thompson to its present height.
The extension work is still noticeable as a narrowing at approximately
two-thirds of the way up the tower. Joseph Thompson's milling business
prospered and towards the latter part of the 19th century he also owned
a steam-mill in Hull and a water-mill at Welton. 1954 : The mill (still in full working order having been kept running by a succession of mill-managers), was sold to Allied Mills. They continued to operate it, however they opted to use electric plant rather than wind power. 1966 : Finally decommissioned, it was sold to the Beverley Borough Council for a nominal charge of £1 1996 : Following local government re-organisation, it is now owned by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and operated by the East Riding Museums and Galleries Service. 1998 : In December 1998, Skidby Windmill was awarded a grant of just over £236,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and a further £87,000 from the European Regional Development Fund to support East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s capital project to refurbish and redisplay the Grade ll-listed building as the Museum of East Riding Rural Life. Two new exhibition galleries were created, looking at the agricultural history of the Wolds, and Village Life.
Tel :
01482
848405 January to 17 May,
November, December
Skidby Windmill is 4 miles
South of Beverley, off the A164, in the village of Skidby. Educational
visits, shop activities and party bookings welcome |
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