Site overview

West Mill at Pinchbeck, also known as Glenside Mill or Speed's Mill, is a surviving tower corn mill beside the River Glen near Small Drove Lane. Built in 1812, it formed part of the village's wind-powered corn-milling landscape and later continued with modern milling machinery after wind working ceased. The tower survives as a preserved windmill structure, known for its distinct lean and later replica cap.

Its survival is one of the visible reminders of Pinchbeck's former group of mills.

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

West Mill was built in 1812 beside the River Glen at Pinchbeck West. It is also recorded under the alternative names Glenside Mill and Speed's Mill. The mill was a wind-powered tower corn mill and stood with a bakehouse close to Small Drove Lane, serving the local grain-milling economy of the south Lincolnshire fenland.

The mill worked by wind until 1931. Twentieth-century photographs record the standing tower in the period after wind working, and the windshaft was recorded on the ground in later mill-photography collections. Milling did not end immediately with the loss of wind power: Glenside Mill continued to use modern milling machinery until the 1970s. By the late twentieth century the tower had survived as a distinctive preserved structure, with a noted lean and later replica cap. Together with Northgate Mill, it represents one of the surviving windmill structures in Pinchbeck.

Timeline

1812

Tower mill constructed

West Mill was built beside the River Glen at Pinchbeck West as a tower corn mill.
1931

Wind working ended

The mill worked by wind until 1931.
1933

Mill photographed after wind working

A photographic record shows Glenside Mill standing beside the drain after the end of wind working.
1970–1979

Modern milling machinery remained in use

Glenside Mill continued in use with modern milling machinery until the 1970s.
2000–2009

Preserved tower with replica cap

The tower survived as a preserved windmill structure with a replica cap in the early twenty-first century.

Sources and records

Mills Archive site record
Windmill World site entry
Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology record
Geograph photographic record
Heritage South Holland windmills article
Lincolnshire windmills list