Heckington Mill Heckington · Lincolnshire · England

Heckington Mill was built in 1830 by Edward Ingledew of Gainsborough for Michael Hare. It began as a five-sailed tower corn mill standing close to Heckington railway station, a location that gave it the nineteenth-century name Station Mill. The original five-sailed arrangement drove three pairs of stones and worked for more than sixty years.

A severe storm in 1890 transformed the history of the mill. The fantail was damaged, the cap was blown round uncontrollably, and the cap, upper gear, and five sails were destroyed. The wrecked mill was then acquired by John Pocklington of Wyberton. In 1891 he had bought the cap, machinery, and eight-sail arrangement from Tuxford's Mill at Skirbeck, Boston, which had been sold for removal. In 1891–1892 he fitted that equipment to the Heckington tower, creating the eight-sailed mill that survives today. The overhanging cap still shows that it came from a wider tower.

Under Pocklington, the mill worked for corn milling and was also associated with a wind-driven circular saw in a side shed. The mill became known as Pocklington's Mill and remained in use into the twentieth century. It ceased work in 1946, after Pocklington's death in 1941 and the later decline of the site.

Kesteven County Council acquired the mill in 1952 or 1953 and made it safe, preventing dismantling. Heckington Mill was listed at Grade I on 23 November 1951. Restoration work followed in stages, with a major campaign in 1986 returning the windmill to working order. Later repairs in 2004 and further conservation continued the process of maintaining the mill. The Friends of Heckington Mill and later Heckington Windmill Trust were central to its preservation.

The mill is now owned by Lincolnshire County Council and operated by Heckington Windmill Trust. The site has developed as a heritage attraction with a visitor centre, museum, shop, bakehouse, tea room, gardens, and the 8 Sail Brewery in the former saw-mill area. The working mill retains a rich technical arrangement, including six floors, four pairs of millstones, a fantail, patent sails, and machinery connected with both flour production and later heritage demonstration.