Wrawby Windmill is the most northerly preserved Post type windmill in Great Britain. It uses a combination of Spring and Common sails. Common sails are among the earliest kind of windmill sail technologies and, in this film, Jon Sass, a leading authority on windmill technology, demonstrates how the common and spring sails are operated. Jon also talks about the general workings of this ancient windmill and explains how the internal workings are deployed. After watching this film you may like to watch the Sibsey Windmill film, a Windmill which, comparatively, exhibits the most advanced development of Windmill design in Great Britain.
Wrawby sits high on a hill above the market town of Brigg in North Lincolnshire, an appropriately windy site. On the day we filmed, a strong north easterly wind was blowing so, after I painted my picture of the windmill, Jon and his windmill volunteers had to turn the mill around to face the prevailing wind using the traditional tail pole and you will see them pushing the mill around. These windmill volunteers receive no public or government funding and rely on public donations and visitor entry fees and purchases, including my drawings (see below), to preserve it’s wonderful full working status. This film also includes some of my other windmill drawings and I hope to include more Lincolnshire Windmill films on this website in the future.
For information or to make a donation towards the upkeep of Wrawby Windmill please contact Mrs Susan Day,
Ivy House, Wrawby, Brigg, North Lincolnshire DN22 8RL.
Email: susan.day@wrawbywindmill.co.uk