History and Background of Holgate Windmill

Holgate Windmill was built in 1770 and was grinding corn until about 1933. It is a Grade II listed building and is a very rare type of windmill as it has five sails, a fantail and is also double shuttered. Once the five sails have been restored, this could make it unique in Britain.Most of the internal machinery is still in place, including the millstones, but on the outside of the building, the sails and fantail (the device which turns the sails into the wind) are missing. The mill was built to the Lincolnshire pattern with a local handmade brick tower and ogee shaped cap. This mill is the last surviving mill in York and one of only two in all of Yorkshire.

York was historically a City surrounded by windmills but Holgate Mill is the last surviving one. A wooden post mill, called Severus Mill, was in existence in 1366 in the close vicinity of the current mill, possibly where the water tower currently stands. This mill had cloth sails and just a single pair of grindstones. There were at least two other mills between Blossom Street and Acomb, one near Enfield Crescent (which was named Holgate Mill, confusingly) and the other (water) mill, called Folly Mill, near the Holgate and Dringhouses beck. The current Holgate windmill was originally built in open countryside but as the city of York spread, this land disappeared and housing was built around the mill so that it now forms a mini roundabout on Windmill Rise, Holgate. The original steep horse and cart track to the Mill survives in narrowed form, as a snicket from Acomb Road.

The first records connected to a Holgate Mill, possibly the one near Enfield Crescent, were in 1573 with mentions of the miller, William Plewman. Other millers are registered through the years but the most significant of these was George Waud or Ward in 1770. Records then say that in 1792, George Ward had “latterly erected a brick windmill and adjoining dwelling house”. This was probably the mill that we see today. He and his sons ran the mill until 1851. The mill was grinding corn until the early 1930’s using wind power and then continued with the aid of electric motors to power the grindstones until production stopped entirely in 1933, due to the mill’s unsafe condition. The last known miller at Holgate mill was Thomas Mollet. The sails were removed by the Council, following storm damage, and have unfortunately been lost. Restoration work in 1939 resulted in a new cap being fitted. The last known owner of the mill was Eliza Gutch.

A storyboard has been erected by the mill, with historical information. Its cost was met by Holgate Neighbourhood Forum.

Much of the mills history has been researched and documented by David Lodge. We are eternally grateful for his drive and determination to raise awareness of the mill

An engraving of York in 1731 showing 3 windmills all of the post mill type in an area between the city walls and the Knavesmire racecourse