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Four-sailed corn mill in use
Brook's Mill had four patent sails and three pairs of stones.
Site overview
Brook's Mill is a former tower corn mill at Epworth. The mill had three pairs of stones and four patent sails. It was worked by the Brooks family from the 1860s.
Wind working ceased from 1944, after which an engine drove the great spur wheel into the 1950s. The building was incorporated into a house in 1982. Brook's Mill is one of several recorded Epworth tower mills and is distinguished in specialist mill records by its Brooks family association, machinery arrangement, later engine drive, and domestic conversion.
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
Brook's Mill was one of Epworth's tower corn mills. It was equipped with four patent sails and three pairs of stones, giving it the working capacity of a substantial nineteenth-century local corn mill. The Brooks family worked the mill from the 1860s, and the family name became attached to the site.
The mill continued to operate after the end of regular wind use. Wind power ceased from 1944, but the great spur wheel continued to be driven by an engine into the 1950s. This change preserved a mechanical milling role for the building after its sails were no longer the main power source.
In 1982 Brook's Mill became part of a house. The conversion marked the end of the mill's independent industrial use, but it also retained the former tower within the built landscape of Epworth. The site is now one of the recorded surviving windmill structures that illustrate the town's once dense milling history.
Timeline
1860–1869
Brooks family working period began
The mill was worked by the Brooks family from the 1860s.
1944
Wind working ceased
The mill ceased working by wind power from 1944.
1944–1959
Engine drive continued
After wind working ended, an engine drove the great spur wheel into the 1950s.
1982
Mill incorporated into house
Brook's Mill became part of a house in 1982.
Sources and records
Mills Archive site record
Windmill World site entry
Lincolnshire Windmills by Peter Dolman
Muggeridge Collection photographs
Geograph photograph records
Windmill World site entry
Lincolnshire Windmills by Peter Dolman
Muggeridge Collection photographs
Geograph photograph records