Buy flour from restored 1770 mill
Before that new-fangled electricity arrived, you couldn’t move for windmills in York. There were at least 20 within a mile or two of the city centre. Today only one remains – but thanks to the dedication of a band of volunteers, it works as well as it ever did.
Holgate Windmill was built by its first miller, George Waud, in 1770. At that time, the site was open countryside and George lived with his family in the mill house. Close by was the hamlet of Holgate, standing on the junction of Acomb and Poppleton Roads, which were used to transport the grain from local farms to the windmill. The original horse-and-cart track to the mill survives as a snicket from Acomb Road.
Info
Address Windmill Rise, Holgate, York YO26 4TX, +44 (0)1904 799295, www.holgatewindmill.org | Public Transport By car: take Poppleton Road (A59) about 1.5 miles west of city centre. Parking available on Acomb Road. Closest bus stops: bus 1 to Holgate Methodist Church; bus 5 to Holgate Park | Hours Check the website for open weekends| Tip Can’t make it to the mill? The flour is also on sale at several city centre shops, including Via Vecchia bakers (see p. 206) on Shambles.
In turn, George’s son and grandson took over the running of the windmill, until it was sold in 1851. A steam engine was installed and the mill was raised to a new height. It continued to grind corn in the early decades of the 20th century, eventually using electric motors to boost the wind power. Production stopped in 1933 and the mill was neglected as the busy suburb of Holgate grew up around it. But in 2001 the Holgate Windmill Preservation Society was formed, and over the next ten years this remarkable group devoted countless hours to painstakingly bringing the ruined windmill back to life. It was a complicated restoration: being a tower mill, with the top rotating according to wind direction, it required a new fantail. The crowning moment came in 2011, when the sails were hoisted back into place.
Today the windmill is open to the public on one or more weekends every month. It’s fascinating to climb the stairs and see the huge cogs operate the four pairs of grindstones, read about the mill’s past, and look out of the window at the views over the west of York. Best of all, you can buy a bag or two of Holgate Windmill flour. There’s nothing like the taste of a cake made with flour ground the old-fashioned way.
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