Photos and video: a fascinating look at a working ‘time capsule’ windmill in West Sussex

Oldland Windmill in Oldlands Lane, Hassocks, will be open on the first weekend of the month from April to October.

The next public open afternoon will be from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday, July 2, with the next being Sunday, August 6.

Former Oldland Mill Trust chairman Fred Maillardet, who now looks after the operations on site, said the mill was was built around 1703 and worked commercially until 1912.

He said: “By 1980 it was about to fall down and the good people of Hassocks, the Hassocks Amenity Association, said ‘we'll try and restore it’, estimating it might cost £7,000 and it might take seven years.”

He explained that the restoration actually ended up taking around 35 years and costing about £100,000. But Fred said the windmill is now ‘precisely in the condition it was in in 1912’.

Fred added that when the mill was abandoned in the early 20th century it became a ‘time capsule’, containing all of its original machinery. Over decades parts of the mill were painstakingly restored or replaced and it is once again being used commercially.

“We are actually providing flour for the local community,” said Fred.

He said: “We are always very keen to open the mill to the public who have supported us so well during that long restoration period.”

Fred explained that the windmill was originally built to serve Ditchling and Keymer because Hassocks did not really exist in its modern form until after railway came in the 1840s.

At the mill people can see the top floor, which is also called the bin floor, because it contains three bins where the grain is stored ready to run through the mill. The grain is actually brought up to this level via wind power on a sack hoist. Grain is then put into a hopper so it can be fed into the stones and this comes with a traditional bell alarm to warn if the hopper is empty.

Visitors can see the round house too and the huge brake system that stops the sweeps moving. They can also see the traditional operating area where the miller can monitor everything, including the speed of the sweeps’ rotation and the feed rate.

Fred said that, as far as the trust is aware, the main post of the mill is the original from the early 18th century. People can still see the old graffiti on the post, which was carved out by previous tenants. The oldest, he said, reads ‘Joseph Winchester 1839’.

Fred added: “There are many others and, with the increased interest in genecology, more and more people are coming back to the mill to hunt out their family names.”

The Oldland Mill Trust’s AGM will be at Adastra Hall in Hassocks on Monday, July 3 (7.30pm). The trust said it is also appealing for help with its summer painting programme. Full training will be given onsite and people can email [email protected] to find out more. Visit www.oldlandwindmill.org.uk/newsite.

People can watch Steve Robards’ fascinating videos about Oldland Windmill at www.dailymotion.com/SussexWorld and look through his photo gallery below.