Skidby Windmill facts for kids
The Skidby Windmill is a special old windmill located in Skidby, near Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is officially recognized as a Grade II* listed building, which means it's very important and protected because of its history and architecture.
This windmill was first built in 1821. Later, in 1870, it was made even taller, reaching its current height of five stories. It has four large sails, each about 11 metres long, that catch the wind to make it work. The mill was used for grinding grain for businesses until 1966. For some of those years, from 1954 to 1966, it also used electric machines to grind animal feed. But it still kept grinding wholemeal flour the traditional way using stones. In 1969, the local council bought the mill for just £1! After some repairs, it opened again in 1974 as a working museum.
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What Makes Skidby Windmill Special?
Skidby Windmill is the last working windmill north of the Humber river in England. It still makes wholemeal flour from wheat grown nearby. Visitors can come to the mill almost every day. If the weather is good, you can even see the mill grinding flour from Wednesday to Sunday.
The Museum of East Riding Rural Life
Right next to the windmill, in some old warehouses, you'll find the Museum of East Riding Rural Life. This museum shows what life was like in the countryside of the East Riding area. One cool thing to see there is the 'Wolds Wagon'. This wagon was built by a company called P. H. Sissons & Sons, who made wagons from 1854 onwards. The wagon was once loaned to a military museum, but now it's back home at Skidby.
Recent Repairs and Updates
Windmills need a lot of care to keep working!
Repairs in 2008
In 2008, work began to fix parts of the mill. They replaced some pieces in the cap (the top part of the windmill) and the fantail (the small windmill at the back that turns the main cap into the wind). To do this, the huge 15-ton cap had to be lifted off by a crane. This was a big deal because it was the first time the cap had been removed since 1870!
Repairs from 2019 Onwards
More big repairs started in late 2019. The large sails and the fantail were taken off and sent all the way to Norfolk to be fixed up. In July 2020, workers started repairing the roof and windows. After that, the tower of the mill was painted, which took about three months. The plan was for the sails and fantail to be brought back and put on the mill in early 2021.
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