Following a recent detailed study of the windmill, Mr Mayank Patel has engaged the services of leading millwrights to repair and restore the cap and sails. In September the sails were taken down by crane, the wooden cap lifted off and a temporary roof placed on the windmill.
A small number of History Group members were invited to view the restoration in progress and were interested to hear from the millwright, Paul Kemp (one of only 6 or 7 left in the country), about the difficulties of lifting off the sails and the cap and the meticulous repair that is being done (overseen by the Historic Buildings Officer of CDC) to put the mill in good stead for another 30 years or more. The windmill had been without sails for many years until Mr and Mrs Dawson put them back (without canvas) in the mid 80s. Whilst all the winding gear is intact, there is no longer any machinery inside the tower, so a return to milling is not an option (though nationally there has been a revival of flour production from working mills in recent years).
The mill was built to a Kentish design (see Herne Mill, Kent, for comparison) – not at all typical of Buckinghamshire. It was only working actively from the 1860s until about 1920. The cap might originally have been made of pitch pine but is being repaired with Douglas fir, which is lighter than oak. The cap weighed around 6 tons at the time of its recent removal by crane.
There are photos of Grove Mill in the Historic Photographs section of the website and Luke Borwick, one of the consulting millwrights, has directed us to the Mills Archive Trust which has several more.
Penny Ware
