A new set of traditional patent sails for the mill have been designed by Bonwick MHC and are under construction by Jonathan Wheeler. The new sails and stocks are being made from carefully selected lengths of Douglas fir and will span 63 feet (19.2 metres) when lifted into place. The target date for the completion of the project is early 2007.

Bardwell tower mill was built in late 1829 or early 1830; it replaced the village’s old post mill which was sold and moved away a few years later. A small mill of four storeys, it stands in company with its original outbuildings which include the miller’s cottage and an old bakery, which is still in use today. Several historical photographs survive, showing the mill in its working days. The mill has a characteristic ‘beehive-shaped’ cap with an 8-bladed fantail and four large patent sails which operated two pairs of millstones and a flour dresser.

The mill operated until 1925 when the sails and fantail were removed. Although an oil engine was used to drive the millstones for a few more years, the mill gradually became derelict. Major repairs were carried out between 1979 and 1985 when the mill ground corn again by wind power. The mill was purchased by the Wheeler family, its present owners, in 1987. Sadly, in the hurricane of 16th October 1987 the mill was ‘tailwinded’ and its new sails and fantail were blown to the ground and destroyed. The original iron windshaft was also irreparably broken.

Since this time the Wheelers, together with the Friends of Bardwell Windmill, have raised funds to enable a new iron windshaft to be cast and the fantail and cap to be restored. Now only new sails are needed to complete the restoration of the windmill to full working order.

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