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Grade II* listing
Brill Windmill is recorded as a Grade II* listed post mill.
Site overview
Brill Windmill, also known as Nixey's Mill, is a Grade II* listed timber-framed post mill on Brill Common. Buckinghamshire Heritage Portal records it as probably built in 1686, while also noting a dated beam read as 1668. The post mill has a timber frame with weatherboard cladding, a nineteenth-century circular brick base with conical slate roof, four sails, and a tail pole.
It was used as a corn mill and is one of the oldest surviving windmills in the country. Historical records include its sale in 1753 and a long sequence of millers including Joseph Rymer, Robert Crump, John Adkins or Atkins, William Adkins or Atkins, Andrews Nixey, and Albert Nixey. Work ceased in 1917.
The mill was opened to the public under trust arrangements from 1929 and was extensively repaired in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, with restoration completed in July 2009.
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
Brill Windmill is one of Buckinghamshire's most important surviving post mills. Buckinghamshire Heritage Portal records the official heritage entry as Brill Windmill and states that the timber-framed windmill was probably built in 1686 and last worked in the 1920s, while the detailed description notes that the post mill is dated to 1668. It is a Grade II* listed post mill with a timber frame, weatherboard cladding carried over the curved roof pitches, a circular nineteenth-century brick base with conical slate roof, four sails, and a tail pole.
The Brill Society history quoted in the heritage record explains that the damaged inscription on a beam on the meal floor includes the initials IC, understood as Isaac Cummings, and that the wording has been interpreted in connection with Rex Carolus of England. The same record states that the mill was sold on 20 November 1753 by Isaac's son Charles to Sir Thomas Snell for £120. In the eighteenth century the mill was sold to Sir John Aubrey.
The recorded millers were Joseph Rymer, Robert Crump, John Adkins or Atkins, William Adkins or Atkins, Andrews Nixey, and Albert Nixey, giving the mill its alternative name Nixey's Mill. Work ceased in 1917. Major H. L. Aubrey Fletcher later licensed the Brill Windmill Trust to administer the mill and open it to the public in 1929.
The mill was extensively renovated in the mid-twentieth century. By the turn of the millennium leakage and weathering had caused timber decay, and the Grade II* listed mill was placed at risk. The Brill Windmill Management Group was established in 2007 to plan restoration and raise funds.
Work began in 2008, supported by funding from English Heritage and Waste Recycling Environmental Limited. During the works the trestle timbers had to be removed, and the poor condition of the 1950 brick roundhouse led to construction of a new roundhouse rather than reuse of the old brickwork. Restoration was completed in July 2009.
The mill remains a prominent restored post mill on Brill Common.
Timeline
1668
Post mill dated
The post mill is recorded as dated to 1668 on a beam, although the present mill is also described as probably built in the 1680s.
1700–1799
Mill sold to Sir John Aubrey
The mill was sold to Sir John Aubrey during the eighteenth century.
1753
Mill sold to Sir Thomas Snell
The mill was sold by Charles Cummings to Sir Thomas Snell for £120.
1917
Working use ceased
Work at Brill Windmill ceased in 1917.
1929
Opened under trust administration
Major H. L. Aubrey Fletcher licensed the Brill Windmill Trust to administer the mill and open it to the public.
1950–1959
Mid-twentieth-century renovation
The mill was extensively renovated during the mid-twentieth century.
2007
Management group established
The Brill Windmill Management Group was established to plan and fund a restoration project.
2008
Major restoration began
Restoration work began after funding was secured from English Heritage and Waste Recycling Environmental Limited.
2009
Restoration completed
Restoration work on Brill Windmill was completed in July 2009.
Sources and records
Buckinghamshire Heritage Portal building record
Brill post mill history at Tring Local History Museum
Buckinghamshire Heritage Portal windmills theme
Windmill World site entry
Mills Archive record
Brill post mill history at Tring Local History Museum
Buckinghamshire Heritage Portal windmills theme
Windmill World site entry
Mills Archive record