Museum restores 200-year-old windmill

A windmill dating back to the 19th Century has been restored and is now operational again after five years.

Danzey Green Windmill, the only working post mill in the West Midlands, has been located at the Avoncroft Museum in Bromsgrove since the late 1960s.

Its reconstruction, which cost nearly £70,000, was led by Mike Field, a highly experienced millwright and miller who led the original reconstruction of the windmill at the museum.

Zoe Willems, director at the Avoncroft Museum, said: "We're honoured that Mike is returning to reopen the windmill he helped save more than 50 years ago."

She added: "This is a celebration of craftsmanship, community, and continuity."

Contributions for the reconstruction came from Droitwich Preservation Society, Edward Cadbury Charitable Trust, William A Cadbury Charitable Trust and Bromsgrove Rotary Club.

It also included Bromsgrove Court Leet, Midlands Mills Group, as well as donations from some private trusts and members of the public.

The windmill was built in about 1820 in Danzey Green, Warwickshire, before it was saved from demolition in the 1960s.

It was then dismantled and rebuilt in Bromsgrove in 1969, where it has been a centrepiece at the museum ever since.

By 2019, the list of necessary repairs had reached a level where it was decided to temporarily halt sailing the mill until repairs to a number of key structural elements could be completed.

The museum said staffing and funding constraints post-pandemic delayed the repairs but now they have been completed the plan was to sail the mill every Saturday from 19 July to the end of August.

Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.