Wheatley Windmill Wheatley · Oxfordshire · England

Wheatley Windmill stands on Windmill Lane, between Littleworth and Wheatley. The supplied coordinates match Wheatley Windmill rather than Headington. The site has a long milling history: a mill was described as ruinous in 1671, was apparently repaired by 1702, and suffered wind and fire damage in 1760.

The present mill is probably the newly built windmill advertised in 1764. It is an unusual eighteenth-century tower mill with an octagonal plan that narrows to carry a circular rotating cap. The windshaft was salvaged from a post mill that stood nearer Wheatley on the site of present-day Post Mill House.

The cast-iron canister box was made in 1784 at the Eagle Foundry in Oxford. In 1806 John Sheldon bought the mill from John Parish, and in 1857 George Cripps of Aston Rowant bought the mill and adjoining cottage. The mill was last used regularly in 1914, when it still had two sails out of the original four and could grind grain.

It also powered an ochre mill, with power transmitted from the central shaft by belt so that ochre dust would not contaminate flour. By 1932 the mill was in poor repair but still retained specialised machinery. Lightning struck the fan in October 1939 and split the tower from parapet to foundations.

Restoration work began in 1977 and continued over later decades. The mill was first listed as Grade II on 18 July 1963.