Wrawby Post Mill Wrawby · Lincolnshire · England

Wind-powered milling at Wrawby is recorded from the late sixteenth century, with a 1585 probate inventory naming milling activity in the village. The surviving post mill was built in the later eighteenth century, usually dated between about 1760 and 1790. It originally stood as an open-trestle post mill, with the roundhouse added in the early nineteenth century.

The mill served as a corn mill, grinding wheat for flour and barley and oats for animal feed. Unlike a tower mill, the whole timber body revolves around the central post, and the mill is turned to wind by the tailpole. During the nineteenth century Wrawby had two post mills, but only this hilltop example survived.

It worked by wind until 1940, when loss of a sail brought its working life to an end. By 1961 the mill had become derelict and was at risk of collapse. The owner, M. O'Connor, donated the mill and access land to the Wrawby Windmill Preservation Society.

The machinery and remaining sails were removed for conservation, the roundhouse was restored, and the old buck was lifted down in one piece for repair. Oak donated by Lord Yarborough and Captain J. Elwes was used in the restoration. The restored mill reopened in 1965 and ground corn again for the first time in twenty-five years.

Later repairs returned the mill to mixed sail types and helped sustain it as a working heritage mill. Wrawby Postmill is listed Grade II* and is owned and operated by Wrawby Windmill Society, which maintains the mill and opens it for public visits and demonstrations.