Heckington Windmill Heckington · Lincolnshire · England

Heckington Windmill was built in 1830 as a five-sailed tower corn mill. It was designed by the millwright Edward Ingledew and built for Michael Hare. The six-storey tarred brick tower worked with three pairs of stones and stood beside the railway at Heckington, where it was also known in the nineteenth century as Station Mill.

After Michael Hare's death, the mill passed through the Hare and Nash family connection, and Joseph Nash became the last miller before the major storm damage of 1890. In that storm the mill lost its cap and sails after the fantail was damaged, leaving the tower badly damaged and the working arrangement wrecked. John Pocklington then rebuilt the mill using the cap, machinery, and eight-sail arrangement from Tuxford's mill at Skirbeck, Boston, which had been sold for removal in 1891.

By 1892 Heckington had been converted into an eight-sailed mill, giving it exceptional power and a distinctive form. The eight sails drove multiple pairs of stones and ancillary machinery, including cleaning, hoisting, mixing, and sawmill equipment. The mill ceased commercial operation in 1946 and later deteriorated.

Restoration brought it back to working order in 1986, with new sails and shades made with support from the Friends of Heckington Mill. The Heckington Windmill Trust, established in 1986, later developed the surrounding buildings and land, including a visitor centre, shop, bakehouse, tea room in the former miller's house, and the 8 Sail Brewery in the old sawmill. The mill remains Grade I listed and is recognised as the only surviving eight-sailed windmill in the United Kingdom with its sails intact.