Brixton Windmill

The mill is an icon of the local landscape, but how much do you really know about the history of Brixton Windmill? We went for a tour around the mill to find out a bit about its life.

The mill was built in 1816 and leased by John Ashby, who used it to mill grain. The windmill was passed through the Ashby family until 1934. Since then it has fallen into several cycles of disrepair and refurbishment until the Friends of Windmill Gardens is set up in 2003 to restore the mill to its current state. Amazingly in 2013 an electric powered millstone machine was installed to allow the mill to churn out flour. You can buy the flour in the shop. But you’ve probably accidentally had it already if you pick up pastries at some classic Brixton bakeries like the Old Post Office.

At 1.5 metres tall, the building houses 5 floors (it gets pretty narrow at the top!). On your tour you are taken to each one starting at the ground floor where the sacks of grain were stored. The next floor is called the meal floor where the sacks were collected and given out to passing horses and carts to take away. Up again is the stone floor, where all the grinding happened. The bin floor is next, where grain  would be kept, ready to pour down a chute into the bin floor for grinding. Right at the top is the dust floor where the sack hoist is- how the workers would control the movement of sacks of grain between the floors. There is so much history and information in this tour, go and you’ll come out feeling ready to take on a windmill themed mastermind.

On the 29th September the windmill is celebrating 10 years since restoration! To celebrate there will be a free talk which starts at 6.45pm. You can join in person or via zoom. They also have loads of other events happening over the month, so check out their website to book into a tour and for all the other goings on.