Monument record 6765/1 - Post medieval windmill

{1} In 1619 (but not apparently 1627) there was a windmill in Stoke Bruerne’s Wood Field, to the north of the village, which in early 18th-century glebe terriers was known for a time as Windmill Field. No mill is shown on maps of 1727 or 1779, but in 1782 Charles West, late of Paulerspury but then of Stoke Bruerne, miller, borrowed £200 secured on a mortgage of a windmill and the ground on which it stood in Stoke field, previously in the tenure of Thomas Biggs, together with all the gear, sails and tackle needed to work the mill. The windmill appears on the plan of the proposed Grand Junction Canal of 1792, a short distance to the north-east of the water-mill, to the east of the lane. In 1800 John Biggs of Marston Moretaine (Beds.) sold the mill to West, who was then back in Paulerspury, and the mill was occupied by Thomas Biggs. By 1827 the mill had either been moved or completely rebuilt on a new site to the west of the lane. Twelve years later Thomas Cox of Whitechapel, London, paid Thomas Frost, a Towcester butcher, £40 for the mill, and in 1846 Hatton Cox, who died in 1849 leaving part of his estate to a son named Thomas, described himself as a miller in Stoke Bruerne’s petition against the repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1862 Francis Woodward bought the mill for £80,68 which he promptly resold to the Grafton estate for £85, plus £9 for the fixtures. The estate appears to have put the premises back into order but they had been demolished by the early 1880s.

{3} Historically important because of its association with the building of the canal.

<1> Riden P.; Insley C., 2002, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.398 (checked) (Series). SNN102540.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1880s, First Edition OS 6 Inch Mapping Series (57NW), (checked) (Map). SNN833.

<3> Jackson, P., 2011, Stoke Bruerne Windmill, (checked) (Correspondence). SNN107315.

Record last edited

Jan 21 2014 2:28PM