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Preserved post mill survival
The mill survives as a timber-framed, weatherboarded post mill with brick plinth, boat cap and four patent sails.
Site overview
Madingley Mill is a restored post mill at Mill Farm on Madingley Hill, west of Cambridge. The present mill was moved from Ellington in Huntingdonshire and rebuilt at Madingley in 1936 on the site of an earlier mill that had fallen in a gale in 1909. It is a timber-framed, weatherboarded post mill standing on a brick plinth, with a boat cap and four patent sails.
The rebuilding was commissioned by Walter Ambrose Harding of Madingley Hall and completed by C. J. Ison of Histon on 1 June 1936. The mill was listed at Grade II* in 1962. It survives as a notable example of a relocated and preserved East Anglian post mill.
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
Madingley Mill occupies a historic windmill site at Mill Farm on Madingley Hill. An earlier mill on the site was destroyed in July 1909 during a violent gale. The present structure was not newly built for the site, but was brought from Ellington in Huntingdonshire and re-erected at Madingley in the 1930s.
The relocation and rebuilding were commissioned by Walter Ambrose Harding of Madingley Hall. An inscription inside the mill records that Harding caused the windmill to be brought from Ellington and rebuilt on the site of the former Madingley mill. The work was completed by C. J. Ison, builder of Histon, on 1 June 1936. The reconstructed mill preserved the form of a traditional post mill, with timber framing, weatherboarding, a brick plinth, a boat cap and four patent sails.
The mill was listed at Grade II* on 31 August 1962, reflecting the national importance of the surviving structure. Its significance lies both in its form as a preserved post mill and in the history of its relocation, which continued the visual and historic association of Madingley Hill with wind-powered corn milling after the loss of the earlier mill. Madingley Mill remains one of the most prominent windmill survivals in Cambridgeshire.
Timeline
1909
Earlier mill destroyed
The earlier Madingley mill fell during a violent gale in July 1909.
1936
Ellington mill rebuilt at Madingley
The post mill brought from Ellington in Huntingdonshire was rebuilt at Madingley for Walter Ambrose Harding, with work completed by C. J. Ison on 1 June 1936.
1962
Listed building designation
Madingley Mill was listed at Grade II*.
Sources and records
Historic England listed building entry: Madingley Mill, at Mill Farm, Madingley Hill
Historic England educational image: Madingley Mill, Madingley, Cambridgeshire
Capturing Cambridge entry: Madingley Mill, Mill Farm
Windmill World entry: Madingley windmill, Cambridgeshire
Historic England educational image: Madingley Mill, Madingley, Cambridgeshire
Capturing Cambridge entry: Madingley Mill, Mill Farm
Windmill World entry: Madingley windmill, Cambridgeshire