Site overview
The Windmill at 79 Aylesbury Road, Wendover, is a Grade II listed former tower mill now converted to a house. Historic England records the building as a tall tapering polygonal brick tower, partly cement rendered, built between 1796 and 1804 and altered in the twentieth century. Windmill World states that the present mill was built between those dates, with a carved date on a second-floor beam, and that the site may be older.
The mill was converted from wind to steam in the late nineteenth century as nearby housing affected windflow. Historic England records that the sails were removed in 1904 when an engine was installed, the mill ceased working in 1926, and it was converted to a house in 1931. The roof was altered in 1947.
The tower survives as a prominent converted windmill structure.
Map
History
The Windmill at Wendover is recorded by Historic England under the listed name The Windmill, with the statutory address 79 Aylesbury Road. Windmill World identifies it as Wendover windmill. The present tower mill was built between 1796 and 1804, and Windmill World notes that the date is carved into a beam on the second floor.
The same source states that the windmill site may be older, although the evidenced surviving structure belongs to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Historic England describes the building as a tall tapering polygonal tower mill of brick, partly cement rendered, with an ogee-shaped dome covered with aluminium, a similar dormer and a projecting balustraded platform. Windmill World describes the tower as massive and reports that it was reputedly built from about 500 tonnes of bricks brought from nearby St Leonards.
The building was a working windmill, but its wind supply was affected as houses were built around the site. Windmill World records that the mill was converted from wind to steam in the late nineteenth century. Historic England states that the sails were removed in 1904 when an engine was installed.
The rising cost of coal in the 1920s contributed to the end of powered working, and Historic England records that the mill ceased working in 1926. Windmill World states that the owning Purcell family then leased the mill to the London actress Marion Fawcett, who converted it into a country residence in the 1930s. Historic England records the residential conversion in 1931 and notes that the roof was altered in 1947.
The building remains a converted former tower mill, preserving its tall brick tower and distinctive domed upper form within Wendover.
Timeline
Converted from wind to steam
Sails removed
Working use ceased
Converted to house
Roof altered
Grade II listing
Sources and records
Windmill World entry for Wendover windmill
Buckinghamshire Heritage Portal material on Wendover
Property particulars for The Windmill, Wendover