1809
Earlier post mill mapped
A post mill was shown in the same locality on the 1809 Award Map.
Site overview
Houghton Conquest Windmill is a surviving derelict tower mill at Duck End, north of Houghton Conquest. A post mill was shown in the locality on the 1809 Award Map, and the later brick tower mill was first mapped in 1826. It was a corn mill, built on or near the site of an earlier mill, and Windmill World records that it was built in 1826.
Bedfordshire Archives describes it as an unusually shaped brick tower mill of massive proportions, standing at Brook Farm on rising ground. The mill had three floors, three pairs of stones, cloth sails that were later replaced by shutters, and a fantail fitted after storm damage in about 1877. It last worked around 1910, after which the sails were sold and removed to Cranfield Mill.
The tower subsequently fell into dereliction and survives as a ruinous former corn mill.
Map
Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.
History
Houghton Conquest Windmill stands at Duck End, north of the church and village of Houghton Conquest. The site has earlier milling evidence: Bedfordshire Archives records a post mill shown on the 1809 Award Map, while Windmill World states that the tower mill was built in 1826 on the site of a former post mill. The brick tower mill was first mapped in the same locality on Bryant's map of Bedfordshire in 1826.
J. Steele Elliott described it as a brick tower mill of unusual shape and massive proportions, formerly roughcast, standing at Brook Farm on rising ground at Duck End. Its form was compared with the Dunstable tower mill, with a ground floor built with a perpendicular wall before tapering above. The tower stood about 35 feet high to the top of the ball terminal and had a 30-inch wall footing.
The cupola was wooden and ribbed. The mill worked as a corn mill and had three floors and three pairs of stones. Its sails were originally cloth sails, but about 1877 a heavy gale blew away the sails and mill head into an adjoining field.
After this damage the cloths were exchanged for shutters and a fantail was fitted to turn the sails to the wind. The mill property was associated for three generations with the Chesher family, and local recollection recorded that an earlier family member helped to build the present mill as a youth. The mill last worked about 1910.
Around a year after working ceased, the sails were sold and removed to Cranfield Mill. The property was sold in 1930. Later photographic records show the tower derelict, with the cap damaged or collapsed and no sails.
Windmill World records the site as a derelict corn tower mill, and the surviving structure remains a ruinous former windmill at Duck End.
Timeline
1826
Brick tower mill built
The brick tower mill was built on the site of a former post mill and was first mapped in the same locality in 1826.
1877
Storm damage and sail alteration
A heavy gale blew away the sails and mill head; the cloths were then exchanged for shutters and a fantail was fitted.
1910
Working use ceased
The mill was last used around 1910.
1911
Sails removed to Cranfield
The sails were sold and removed to Cranfield Mill about a year after working ceased.
1930
Mill property sold
The mill property was sold after three generations of Chesher family ownership.
Sources and records
Bedfordshire Archives Houghton Conquest Windmill page
Windmill World site entry
Mills Archive record
Historic England Archive photograph
Windmill World site entry
Mills Archive record
Historic England Archive photograph