Westwood Windmills

The Beverley landscape in the 19^th Century was dominated by several windmills. The open, low lying land was an ideal location for wind power and windmills had been constructed in the town from the 14^th century. Not only were windmills used to grind corn but they also provided the power for other local industries like whiting production and grinding bark for the tanning process (Catterson’s Mill on Hellgarth Lane) It has been said that in the 1850s there were 9 flower mills. As other forms of power took over, only Crathorne’s Mill was still functional by the 1880s.

Black Mill (copyright Paul Glazzard, licensed for use
under Creative Commons Licence)

The biggest concentration of mills was on the Westwood. The Corporation had a mill on the Westwood from as early as 1577. Subsequently there were at least 5 tower mills built in addition to several earlier post mills.

The only mill that still stands to its full height is Black Mill (also known as Far Mill or Bateson’s mill) built in 1803. It stood on the site of the earlier New Mill. It closed in 1868 after the sails were blown off. The cap of the windmill and the machinery were removed, but the tower was repaired and is now a listed building. The tower is 5 storeys high. Originally the miller’s house stood beside the mill but this has been demolished. A pavilion for the golf club was built near the mill before it moved to its current location; pictures also exists of a cricket field laid out at Black Mill.

Union Mill, now Beverley Golf Club (copyright Peter Church,
used under Creative Commons Licence)
 

Victoria Mill, built 1837, was used to grind to whiting and the stump still stands at the whiting works. The only other surviving mill is Union Mill, also called Anti-Mill, of which a remnant of the tower persists as part of the Golf Club. It was run by the Union Mill Society from 1799 util the late 19^th century.

The site of Lowson’s Mill, another tower mill, can still be seen on the edge of the Westwood near Cartwright Lane. Crathorne’s  Mill was a flour mill with five sails built around 1830. This drawing  in the East Riding Museums Collection is labelled as Crathorne’s mill. Crathornes moved to a mechanised mill at Grovehill which burnt down in 1907.

The presence of mills on the Westwood, constructed and operated by the Corporation, were contentious with freemen of the town, who believed they infringed their pasture rights. Fishwick’s mill was a flour mill that stood near the Leases. It replaced Butt Close Mill, a post mill burned in 1861 down by the freemen who believed it infringed their pasture rights. Wilson’s mill on Walkington Road, belonging to Harry Wilson, was demolished by the Pasturemasters at the expiry of its lease.   This picture in the East Riding Museums Collection showing Wilson’s and Fishwick’s mills appears to indicate that Fishwick’s was a six sailed mill but another contemporary picture depicts a four-sailed mill post mill labelled as Fishwick’s.

A series of mills were described as Hither Mill (also called First or Low Mill). One of the earliest mills,  a post mill was first built in 1656, a short distance from where Black Mill was later built. Two post mills at the site were followed by a tower mill. Hither Mill blew down in a storm in 1715. It was rebuilt in 1742, but by the mid 19^th century was ruinous and the machinery was sold off.