Gone with the Wind

Windmills and those around Tring

Ian Pettigrew & Wendy Austin

2010

ISBN 978-0-9537924-7-4

 

 

The book starts with a general introduction into the type of windmill, and how they work, before looking in detail at the history of several local mills. It looks at five windmills in detail, three a few miles over the county boundary in Buckinghamshire (Pitstone, Wendover and Hawridge) and two in Hertfordshire (Gamnel and Goldfield Mills, Tring). It is well illustrated with old photographs and colour photographs of surviving mills (often including details of their mechanical parts). In addition to those discussed in detail in the text  there are pictures of other surviving mills at Brill, Chinnor,  Lacey Green and Quainton in Buckinghamshire and Edlesborough in Bedfordshire.

 

The sections on the two Tring mills is detailed, and shows a high standard of research. The history of Gamnel's mill is described from the construction of the canal and demolition of a former water mill through the the establishment of Heygate's modern flour mill, with information on the adjacent Bushell's Wharf,  The book also follows the history of Goldfield Mill and its millers, up to the conversion of the brick tower into a private house.

 

Millers and millwrights mentioned at Tring include Grover, Massey, Mead, Bailey, Liddington, Wright, Hillsdon and Cooper.