Shipley Windmill

A lovely old windmill just south of the "main" road through the village. At one stage, it was owned by Hilaire Belloc, the French/British author and historian. This is the landmark that really puts Shipley on the map, most recently after the windmill appeared on television, as the home of ITV's Jonathan Creek character.

Nowadays, only a few of them are still in operation in their original function, but are often merely technical and historical monuments to a long tradition of craftsmanship: the heavy millstones inside were moved using the power of the wind as the driving force, for example to grind grain into flour (so-called grain mills) or to press oil from fruits (e.g. olives) (so-called oil mills). These old windmills are therefore the best proof that people were clever enough to harness the power of the wind a number of centuries ago - long before the discovery of electricity and the inventions that followed.

Nice cut through, decent surface.