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Tuesday 22 August 2023
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Saturday 12 August 2023
Houghton Regis Windmills
Windmills, Local to Houghton Regis
A corn mill once stood on corn fields of Houghton Regis. To the north, the northern slopes of Houghton Regis, to the west would become the main quarry, to the south became Millers Way.
In 1777 the hill on which the mill stood was mentioned in a proposal for a footway diversion.
This excerpt above comes from Bedfordshire County Records 1714 to 1832.
The 1762 Survey Map indicated no sign of a mill on the site. Seven Acres was basically the area of modern-day Houghton Regis Primary School.
Bucks Herald, 26th February 1842. - “MAN KILLED BY A WINDMILL — Last week a man named James Messenger, was killed at Houghton Regis, by the sails of a windmill. It appeared that whilst about his work there he imprudently passed close to the sweeps of the sails to get to a door, and one of the fans struck him on the back part of the head. The poor man was struck to the ground with great violence and was picked up insensible. His master rendered assistance and forwarded a messenger to Dunstable for a surgeon, who, in examination found that there was no fracture of the skull, but the poor man was labouring under a severe concussion of the brain, and in a few days after he died.”
1874: The Houghton Steam Corn Mill is offered for Sale by Auction (see fascinating account on page 204 of Dunstable History Society Newsletter) and was sold to the tenant, Mr Smith, for £1,200.
1912 - “... At the west end of the straight village street a path leads across a field to the rising ground on which the mill, still in use, is placed....” british_history.ac.uk
Dunstable photographer Charles Smy photographed in1920 from top of the Watling Street cutting at Chalk Hill looking over a huge field which has now completely disappeared due to the chalk extraction and creation of Houghton Regis Chalk Pit.
The mill was on the end of "Mill Lane".
In 1927 the mill building is just about seeable (centre) at the end of Mill Lane, with the cement works (now Townsend Road and Blackburn Road) lower right. Blue Waters is in the middle distance, and after being a lagoon, became a council waste tip, and, later, as it is today, a woodland.
The location of the mill was pinned on the Mills Archive website. NGR TL 012 238, Latitude 51.90356, Longitude -0.53043823. Arthur C Smith travelled throughout the country by bicycle in the 1970s and 1980s, locating and recording windmill sites. The results of these investigations were published between 1974 and 1989 in the County Windmills series.
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The Windmill, Mill Lane, Houghton Regis
1933: Houghton Regis Windmill Stump Edlesborough windmill and watermill in 1939.
A corn mill once stood on corn fields of Houghton Regis. To the north, the northern slopes of Houghton Regis, to the west would become the main quarry, to the south became Millers Way.
In 1777 the hill on which the mill stood was mentioned in a proposal for a footway diversion.
This excerpt above comes from Bedfordshire County Records 1714 to 1832.
The 1762 Survey Map indicated no sign of a mill on the site. Seven Acres was basically the area of modern-day Houghton Regis Primary School.
Bucks Herald, 26th February 1842. - “MAN KILLED BY A WINDMILL — Last week a man named James Messenger, was killed at Houghton Regis, by the sails of a windmill. It appeared that whilst about his work there he imprudently passed close to the sweeps of the sails to get to a door, and one of the fans struck him on the back part of the head. The poor man was struck to the ground with great violence and was picked up insensible. His master rendered assistance and forwarded a messenger to Dunstable for a surgeon, who, in examination found that there was no fracture of the skull, but the poor man was labouring under a severe concussion of the brain, and in a few days after he died.”
1874: The Houghton Steam Corn Mill is offered for Sale by Auction (see fascinating account on page 204 of Dunstable History Society Newsletter) and was sold to the tenant, Mr Smith, for £1,200.
1912 - “... At the west end of the straight village street a path leads across a field to the rising ground on which the mill, still in use, is placed....” british_history.ac.uk
Dunstable photographer Charles Smy photographed in1920 from top of the Watling Street cutting at Chalk Hill looking over a huge field which has now completely disappeared due to the chalk extraction and creation of Houghton Regis Chalk Pit.
The mill was on the end of "Mill Lane".
The location of the mill was pinned on the Mills Archive website. NGR TL 012 238, Latitude 51.90356, Longitude -0.53043823. Arthur C Smith travelled throughout the country by bicycle in the 1970s and 1980s, locating and recording windmill sites. The results of these investigations were published between 1974 and 1989 in the County Windmills series.
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Houghton Regis Windmill Stump on the edge of the Chalk Pit prior to new building works picture on Flickr: image by Tom Burnham. The perspective in this colour picture looks towards the former quarry chimneys on Houghton Rd (now Townsend Farm Rd / Blackburn Rd).
Commenting on Flickr:
Alan Batham 2012, “The site of fat mac tower (the windmill) is now a huge housing estate. I used to live in Mill Lane, which was the road leading to the mill, just to the left of the houses in your shot. ”
Commenting on Flickr:
Alan Batham 2012, “The site of fat mac tower (the windmill) is now a huge housing estate. I used to live in Mill Lane, which was the road leading to the mill, just to the left of the houses in your shot. ”
Paul Richardson “The story goes that this stub had a water tank perched on the top but this fell off one day and flooded the houses in Mill Road. The remains lasted till about 1995- 96 when the area was re-developed for housing. The tower was roughly at what is now the top end of Millers way."
Houghton Regis Tower Mill, pen and ink drawing, 8 April 1938.
Creator: Wood, Karl Salsbury (1888-1958), artist. View at: Source of this picture
Houghton Regis Tower Mill, pen and ink drawing, 8 April 1938.
Creator: Wood, Karl Salsbury (1888-1958), artist. View at: Source of this picture
The Windmill, Mill Lane, Houghton Regis
1933: Houghton Regis Windmill Stump Edlesborough windmill and watermill in 1939.
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Doolittle Mill - Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe.
Doolittle Mill, Totternhoe mid 20th Century.
Formerly known as Horsham Mill, it was built sometime between 1815 and 1825. The mill combined windmill and watermill. This tower mill is now cut off at the fourth floor after the sails blew down around 1868-90.
1960s-80s? Fred Phelps did model-making here.
Doolittle before the sails came off.
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West Street Windmill, Dunstable
West Street Windmill, Dunstable was built in 1839 for a local landowner, Richard Gutteridge. The tower is about 60 feet high and contains five storeys. The sails were removed in 1908. It then continued as a steam mill. During WWII it was used as an observation post by the Home Guard.
Chiltern Road resident, Admiral Sir Lionel Preston KCB (27 September 1875 – 21 September 1971) was instrumental in forming a Sea Cadets unit as part of the Pioneer Boys Club in 1942.
Since 1948 the mill has been run by Dunstable Sea Scouts when it was renamed 'Training Ship Lionel Preston' in his honour.
1930s or earlier. The mill overlooks a Dunstable Grammar School cricket match at the West Parade field.
March 1934.
Houghton Regis: Chalk Pit Documents Online
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