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Fulwell Windmill

Built on the site of an earlier mill, Fulwell Windmill is a well-known Sunderland landmark completed in 1808 for the Swan family. The tower and stone reefing stage were constructed using the magnesiun limestone from the neighbouring Fulwell Quarry. Its elevation of 160 feet above sea level is well appreciated when approached from Sea Road to the east, or Newcastle Road to the south. When built, the land surrounding the mill was open fields and the wind would have been unobstructed regardless of direction. Having been repaired cosmetically as a landmark in the 1950s, the windmill has now been fully restored to working order and survives as the only working windmill north of Holgate Windmill in York.

Windmills were abundant until the beginning of the 20th century. Then, the introduction of large-scale, steam driven roller mills, using cheap imported grain, forced small-scale millers out of business. By 1900 almost all windmills in the north east had ceased operating by wind. Some, like Fulwell, continued milling using a gas or diesel engine. Latterly they milled only animal feed as, after the First World War, government legislation decreed that flour should be of a standard consistency. This was easily achieved using rollers but not with millstones.

Remnants from the old flour trade are still to be seen throughout the region. Visible from Fulwell Mill are Cleadon Mill (an empty shell, once used as target practice in WW1), and Whitburn Mill (cosmetically restored in the 1990’s but containing no machinery). West Boldon Mill has been converted into a house. Also nearby are the remains of windmill towers in Heaton and Whickham, and of a 5-sailed smock mill, designed by civil engineer John Smeaton, on Newcastle Town Moor, Claremont Road. Tower mills also remain at Easington, Hart and Elwick near Middlesbrough, along with Callerton near Newcastle.

Repair works to Fulwell Mill were carried out throughout the 1900’s. In the 1990’s Sunderland City Council commenced restoration work to return the mill to working order, though much of the work was of low quality,  Sadly, due to this and lack of regular maintenance, followed by the coup de grâce of wind destroying one of the by then rotten sails in 2011, the mill had again fallen into a bad state of repair, and was closed to visitors. The latest restoration commenced in 2015 when the now almost completely rotten cap and sails were craned off by the Lincolnshire millwrighting firm of Traditional Millwrights. The cast iron windshaft was transferred to the workshop of Owlsworth IJP and construction began on a new cap and sails to a more authentic design than the previous. The restoration was completed with the installation of the sails in May 2018.

The mill comprises five floors, topped by the cap. The ground and first floors are contained within the reefing stage, on which stands the tower. Carts would arrive in the yard with sacks of grain to be weighed and stored on the ground floor, before being hoisted to be milled.

Machine floor

The first floor housed ancillary machines, such as flour and barley dressers, and groat machine. Of these, only the barley dresser remains. There were likely to be other machines such as a grain cleaner or smutter, through which the grain would be fed before being hoisted to the top of the mill. The machinery on this floor was driven by the overhead layshaft. A second shaft, on the south-east side of the mill, also drove some machinery on this floor. On the floor above you will see the gears linking these auxiliary shafts to the upright shaft, - the main shaft through the tower transferring the rotational energy from the sails.

Having all these machines the miller was capable of separating the meal coming down from the stones into different grades:  usually fine white flour, semolina and bran. In days gone by the baker constantly soughtwhiter and whiter flour as it resulted in a lighter loaf. Often they would bulk up the loaf with whitening agents such chalk dust. Today however we recognise the health benefits of a loaf made using wholemeal flour.

The unusual feature of a stone reefing stage gave Fulwell’s miller additional space in the form of small alcoves on this floor. Within the west alcove is the miller’s office with a desk and fireplace. A fireplace is a very unusual feature in a windmill, as with the air full of flour dust an open flame could ignite a fire. Before electricity of course, mills were lit by candles or gas lamps and this did lead to the untimely end of numerous mills. In the north alcove can be seen the miller’s workshop.Here the miller kept tools for repair work to equipment and the mill as the need arose. The south alcove has a door to the field that extends to the west and north around the mill at this higher elevation.

Spout floor

The second floor is known as the spout floor, as the meal chutes (or spouts) from the stones above would terminate here. Here the miller would spend most of his day, constantly checking the quality of the flour. He could adjust the flow of grain using the crook string to increase or reduce the slope of the shoe, down which the grain enters the eye of the millstones. And if the flour was not of the consistency required he could change the gap between the stones using the tentering screw above his head.

The speed of the sails, and therefore the millstones, constantly changes with the wind, and alters the consistency of the flour. To even-out the quality of the flour without the miller having to constantly adjust the tentering gear a governor was introduced to automatically alter the gap between the stones as the speed changes.

As the speed of the millstone increases it tends to rise, or float, causing the meal to become coarser. The balls on the Governor are flung out by centrifugal force as the speed increases and, through linkages to the tentering gear, maintains a satisfactorily constant gap between the pair of stones. The adjustment of the tentering gear is very fine with one turn of the tentering screw able tochange the distance between stones by around only 1/1000th of an inch.

This floor also gives access to the reefing stage, outside, where the miller can set the sails, and release or apply the brake to stop or start the mill. There are two doors, one on the east and one on the west side of the tower, so that if the sails are blocking one the miller can safely access the stage from the opposite door. From outside the mill at ground level you may have seen the brake rope hanging down from the cap to the reefing stage as well as the chain for the striking gear beneath the fantail.

The striking gear is used to alter the surface area of the four sails  in unison, while the mill is in operaton. Pulling the striking chain to rotate the weight wheel clockwise pushes forward a rod running through the (hollow) windshaft that, via the levers making up the spider, close the shutters in the sails, so increasing the area exposed to the wind. With careful weighting on the chain, gusts of wind can open the shutters relieving excessive pressure. Before automatic sails were invented, the miller would have to stop the mill and adjust each sail individually. This was not only time consuming but also dangerous. In 1839 the brake failed while the miller was adjusting the sails and he was thrown to his death.

We have now only a few shutters on each sail, deliberately, to avoid the danger of excessive speeds. But we have been compromising with sail cloths to increase the sail areas to help the sails turn in light winds, but that can be furled when not needed. An alternative, more automatic technique, is the use of roller blinds. With these installed on the sails a weight on the striking chain unfurls the blinds, but is countered by increasing centrifugal force as wind speed increases allowing the blinds to roll back up.

Before leaving this floor note that the two bed stones can be seen overhead. The millstones are seen in more detail on the next floor.

Stone floor

The third floor contains the millstones. At one time there were three sets of millstones here but only two remain. One set is known as French Burr stones, these were made from freshwater quartz and are extremely hard. This type of millstone was most commonly used to make wholemeal flour for baking or being sieved to make white flour using the flour dresser downstairs. The other set are known as Derbyshire Grit stones and unsurprisingly came from Derbyshire. These are a much softer stone and were used to grind animal feed, although today many millers are using them to make wholemeal flour.

In the centre of this floor you can see the upright shaft bringing the rotational energy down the mill from the cap above. In most windmills the great spur wheel and snote nuts are above the mill stones, an arrangement known as overdriven, or overdrift. In Lincolnshire for example, where windmills were the specialty, almost all mills, including watermills, were overdrift. In areas with more watermills than windmills, however, the gears are frequently arranged under the millstones, as here at Fulwell, on the floor below. This is known as underdriven, or underdrift.

The grain comes down from the floor above through spouts into a hopper above each set of millstones. The hopper is supported by a four-legged wooden construction known as the horse, which stands on the tun that encases the millstones. To control the flow into the stones the grain slides down the slope of the shoe, which  is shaken by the damsel that rotates with the runner stone. The flow of grain into the millstones is thus controlled automatically as the speed of the mill varies.

Each set of millstones comprises two individual stones. The bed stone, which you could see from the floor below, is stationary, while the runner stone rotates above. A brush or leather strap is attached to the side of the runner stone to sweep the flour round the outside edge of millstones to a hole in the floor, and thence the chute and waiting sack on the spout floor below.

Bin floor

Here, the sacks of grain are emptied into the grain bins, after being raised to the top of the mill using the sack hoist. The hoist mechanism can be seen through the Perspex ceiling above: its spindle being turned by a wooden wheel that turns by friction with a wooden ring bolted to the underside of the wallower when raised by the hoist rope. This floor also gives the miller access to the cap.

Cap

The cap has skid blocks that rest on the curb – a cast iron ring that sits on the top of the tower. The cap can rotate with six centring wheels keeping it positioned over the tower. as it is rotated to face into the wind by the fantail,.

The fantail, sticking out of the back of the cap, turns as the wind changes direction and, through a series of reduction gears that, finally, mesh with teeth on the curb, turn the cap so that the sails constantly face into the wind. The gearing of the fantail is very low and, on some mills, in order to turn the mill 360 degrees, the fan must turn 3000 times. It is vital to keep the fantail well maintained so that the sails always face the wind even when the miller is not on site.If the cap were  not able to turn, and become tail-winded (with the sails down-wind) a high wind could cause it, sails and all, to be ripped off the tower.

At the front of the cap, just above where the windshaft exits to the cross holding the sails, is the storm hatch. This can be removed to allow the miller to service the striking gear and sails. At the back of the cap a similar hatch gives access to the fanstage.

Within the cap you see the large wooden brake wheel, with the wooden band-brake wrapped around its circumference. The brake-wheel meshes with the wallower that transfers the motion of the sails to the vertical shaft that drives all the machinery below.

With both the brake-wheel and brake being made from wood, it is important to be very careful applying the brake in high winds. If not applied gradually, friction may bind the brake to the wheel, breaking it loose from its fixings and be flung by the wheel’s rotational energy, causing serious damage to the cap, tower, or anything (or person) unfortunate enough to be in its path. The brake-wheel must be securely chocked when the mill is left unattended. Many mills have been burnt down when, during a storm, the sails started to turn with the brake still applied. The friction created causes sparks that, landing on the wooden frame, set it on fire. This happened at Jill Mill in Sussex during the 1987 hurricane. It was only saved thanks to a small group of volunteers who were climbing the hill in the middle of the night who managed to extinguish the fire and stop the mill.