SPAB Mills Day Event: Mills at Risk

Saturday 30 November 10am - 4.45pm 

Join us for a day of online talks about windmills and watermills that are currently or have been in the past listed on the Heritage at Risk Register and find out more about specific case studies. 

What happens when a mill is added to the Heritage at Risk Register? What steps can you take to protect a mill from different risks? We’ll also look at some preservation successes and failures, and explain why some restored mills remain at risk. 

This is a unique opportunity to hear from a whole range of mill professionals – including volunteers and millwrights. You'll also have a chance to have your questions answered.   

Booking closes Friday 29 November, 12pm. Anyone who has booked a place will also be sent a recording of the talks after the event. 

Programme

We can’t save them all… can we? — Luke Bonwick 

Looking at some preservation successes and failures and explain why some restored mills remain at risk. 

Understanding how to get the best from the Heritage at Risk Programme — Duncan McCallum 

Historic England has been publishing a rolling ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register for over 30 years. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have each taken slightly different approaches to solving these challenges.  

This presentation seeks to demystify the ‘at risk’ process, to explain its quirks, and show how owners can sometimes benefit from the added efforts that government agencies, local authorities and other players in the heritage sector put into finding sustainable solutions.   

Thaxted Windmill Essex Grade II* on the Mills at Risk Register — Anne Mason, Ed Morton, Mark Rickards 

This talk will cover the consultation and involvement of the community, a presentation about the structural and millwrighting repairs needed for this Heritage at Risk building and will describe the review of governance and resulting training and the revitalisation of the Board of Trustees of Thaxted Windmill.

Tree-ring dating and the development of Kibworth Harcourt Post Mill — Nick Hill 

As part of the SPAB’s recent major repair works at Kibworth Harcourt Post Mill in Leicestershire, a programme of tree-ring dating was carried out in 2021-22. Combining the results with a recent study of the building structure, Nick Hill presents an analysis of the mill’s historical development, from the early 17th to the 19th century. 

Tilty Mill, Essex - Archaeology, History and Heritage at Risk — David Kenny

The talk will cover the Cistercian Tilty Abbey and the water engineering that powered an earlier watermill on or near the site of the surviving 18th century mill. The mill is on the Historic England Heritage at Risk register and efforts to secure its future are ongoing.

Satanic Mills, Forty Years On -- Lydia Franklin 

Forty-five years ago, SAVE's exhibition Satanic Mills launched a campaign to save the great textile mills of the North of England. This talk offers insight into SAVE's past successes and current cases, as we continue to campaign for the protection and re-use of historic mill buildings.   

Programme schedule:

10.00 – 10.10 Mildred Cookson: Opening remarks

10.10 – 10.55 Duncan McCallum: Understanding how to get the best from the Heritage at Risk Programme 

10.55 – 11.05 Break

11.10 – 11.55 Luke Bonwick: We can’t save them all… can we?

12.00 – 12.45  Anne Mason, Ed Morton, Mark Rickards: Thaxted Windmill Essex Grade II* on the Mills at Risk Register 

12.45 – 13.15 Lunch

13.20 – 14.05 David Kenny: Tilty Mill, Essex - Archaeology, History and Heritage at Risk

14.10 – 14.55 Lydia Franklin: Satanic Mills, Forty Years On

14.55 – 15.05 Break

15.10 – 15.40 Nick Hill: Tree-ring dating and the development of Kibworth Harcourt Post Mill

15.40 – 16.15 Discussion and closing remarks

Who is this event for?

The event is aimed at mill enthusiasts, including heritage professionals, millwrights, mill owners and volunteers.  

IT requirements

You will need a computer, phone or other device connected to the Internet.

Speakers

Luke Bonwick, Millwright Consultant and Building Conservation Manager at English Heritage, is an expert in mills, millwrighting, dendrochronology and archaeology, having worked with mills across the country and abroad.  

Duncan McCallum has nearly 40 years of experience in the heritage sector. He has been Chair of the SPAB since 2023 and is involved in other heritage-related activity in the UK and beyond. He is a member of the IHBC and a Fellow of the RTPI, the Royal Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society of Arts. 

Nick Hill lives in Leicestershire and has been recording and researching historic buildings in the surrounding area for many decades. He is Treasurer of the Vernacular Architecture Group and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He worked as a project manager at Historic England for over 30 years, coordinating major repair projects such as Apethorpe Hall in Northamptonshire and Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings.   

Anne Mason, Project Manager, describing the community consultation; the involvement of those with access limitations and learning difficulties and the range of activities planned to engage with audiences beyond those 
traditionally interested in mills. 

Ed Morton, The Morton Partnership, the Lead Consultant for the project, presentation about the structural and millwrighting repairs needed for this HAR building, as well as the process of obtaining tenders.  

Mark Rickards, Secretary to the Trustees, describing the review of governance and resulting training and the revitalisation of the Board of Trustees with four new trustees.

David Kenny, Heritage Officer, Countryside Stewardship Heritage Service, Historic England, is an archaeologist and has worked for English Heritage/Historic England for almost 20 years as a Field Monument Warden, Historic Environment Field Adviser, Heritage at Risk Project Officer and Heritage Officer rolls. He has a long association with Tilty having first visited to discuss consolidation of the scheduled abbey ruins in 2009 and within 10 minutes of arriving in the tiny hamlet the subject of the mill arose and, it’s fair to say, discussions continue.

Lydia Franklin is Conservation Officer at SAVE Britain's Heritage

Accessibility

Closed captions are available for this talk.

Anything we can do to make this event more accessible for you? Please email millsinfo@spab.org.uk.

All bookings are subject to our Terms and Conditions. 

Photo credit: Polegate Windmill © Cameron Southcott