Power of the wind (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Power of the wind

8:29am Thursday 3rd March 2011 in Nostalgia By Nigel Kerton

It must have been 40 years ago this year when I had a phone call inviting me to meet the late David Lemon at Wilton Windmill – or what was left of it.

It was built for £500 in 1821 but had ceased working in about 1920, overtaken by power from steam and electricity.

The mill became a forlorn sight on the skyline and, by the time I first saw, it most of its metal cap had disintegrated and just one of its wooden sails remained sticking up in the sky. If there had been a wooden gallery around it previously, it had long rotted.

I met Mr Lemon, who was chairman of the parish council and a leading member of the former Marlborough and Ramsbury Rural District Council, with Tony Darby who was the press officer for Wiltshire County Council.

Mr Lemon – whose son Peter and grandson David continue to run Manor Farm at Wilton – outlined the restoration plans.

It was about this period when the plans for the restoration of the Kennet and Avon Canal were revealed and I held out little hope of either scheme ever proceeding.

But Peter Lemon said that his father had no such qualms. “He was never in doubt that the restoration of windmill would be successful,” he said.

Now, when I drive around the lanes in the area and see the mill standing proudly on his hill-top perch with the sun glinting off its metal cap, I recall its state back in 1971 when Mr Lemon stood pointing at the wreck saying: “We are going to restore it.”

The council bought the mill and leased it to Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust which raised the £25,000 cost of the restoration which was completed in 1976. Wilton Windmill Society was formed to operate it and open it to the public.

Since then tens of thousands have visited the mill, stood listening to the whoosh of its mighty sails and bought the stone-ground flour that it still produces on the summer weekends.

It is the only working windmill in the old Wessex region although there is one on the west side of Swindon at the Windmill Hill business park.

This mill, which no longer works, originally stood near Chiseldon but was painstakingly removed stone by stone and removed to the business park as a feature.

At Wilton, the season opens on Easter Saturday, April 23 and remains open over the bank holiday weekend 2pm to 5pm daily when, weather permitting, it should be working.

On Sunday May 14 there will be a food fair from noon to 5pm, with a host of attractions.

Bread, baked with flour from the mill, will be on sale.