Bembridge Windmill Trail

Bembridge windmill is the only surviving windmill on the Isle of Wight and was painted by JMW Turner in 1795. The mill was built around the early 1700s. Using local limestone, the mill was owned by the Dennett family for almost all of its working life.

The tower stands thirty-eight feet in height and is faced on the weather side with cement rendering. This mill was in continuous use, for grinding flour, bran and cattle feed, until the 1890s. The mill finally ceased work In 1913, after a working life of over 200 years. Sadly this well used mill fell into decayed and became infested with woodworm and deathwatch beetle. Neither a friend to any structure that is pronominally made of wood.

The Mill and its adjoining land were offered to the National Trust in 1957. In 1958, the Island National Trust Properties Committee launched an appeal for funds, raising £1,000 of public subscriptions, and allowing restoration work to begin in 1959. The mill became the property of the National Trust in 1962 and has been opened to the public ever since.

If there one thing that I have noticed during my short time here thus far, is that raising funds by public subscription has been, and still is, a very useful means to maintaining buildings of historical value for generations to come. Especially if children of any age can climb and crawl there way over it!