Holgate Windmill, York’s last surviving windmill and the oldest 5-sailed windmill in the country is now fully restored and producing traditional stone-ground flour.
Come and visit us on one of our regular open days throughout the year to talk to our knowledgeable volunteers and see how it’s done, or purchase flour (and a wide range of other gifts) any Saturday morning, 10:00 till 12:00.
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An interesting display in the mill of some of the different grains available in the UK. We mill crusoe and skyfall wheat, both of which are group 1 wheat varieties so strong and therefore particularly suitable for bread making. We also mill spelt which is known an ancient grain recognised for its many health benefits including boosting the immune system and because of the high fibre and low gluten content makes it easier to digest than traditional wheat which helps people with digestive issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome. #holgatewindmill #holgate #stoneground #stonegroundflour #milling #ancientgrains #crusoewheat #skyfallwheat #spelt #windmill #windmillflour
Looking for a fun activity for the little people next Saturday? Holgate Windmill have there next Mini Millers session where they will be making bread. To book please email minimillers@holgatewindmill.org. #holgatewindmill #holgate #breadmaking #minimillers #homemadebread #childrensworkshop
Pictures showing the millstones before and after they have been rethreaded. The last photo shows the upper stone being lifted back into place. The stones have been run, the flour been tested and we are now back into full production again. #holgatewindmill #holgate #millstones #millsarchive #millwright #restoration #restoredwindmill #redressingstores #windmill #windmills
More photos from last Wednesday when the electric stones were lifted and shows the work being done to recut some of the groves. The traditional tools used were the mill bill (flat edged) and the mill pick (pointed) set in their wooden ‘thrifts’. Stone dressers(who travelled from mill to mill), or perhaps the miller himself, would start a day’s work with a dozen or so of each of these metal pieces which blunted as they worked. The mill bill cut the many sharp parallel edges on the flat ‘lands’ of the millstone face. This is called the ‘stitching’.
The bill cut out the grooves for the flour to pass out from between the stones (furrows). The blue marker die was used for checking that the surface was level. An experienced stone dresser would have many metal splinters embedded in his hands and proof of his experience would be given by ‘showing his metal’. Last Wednesday they used electric angle grinders! #holgatewindmill #millstones #millsarchive #millwright #anglegrinders #restoration #restoredwindmill #dressingthestones #makingflour #stoneground #stonegroundflour
Last Wednesday was a fascinating day at the windmill. The millers had had a feeling over the past few weeks that the millstones run by the electric motor were not working as efficiently as they could be so decided to ask our millwright Dave Andrews together with Richard Hill (assisted by 4 of our volunteers Steve, Jenny, Martin and Richie) to come in to lift the stones to see if they needed re-stitching. Dressing the millstones initially was really important as a pattern of groves are cut into the millstones to make sure they grind the wheat to produce flour. As the stones are used the furrows gradually become worn and must be recut or dressed. Re-stitching is less extensive than redressing. The photos show the stones after the top stone has been lifted. It can be seen there there was a big build up of spelt flour which was cleared and then the stone re-threaded. On Friday which is our milling day, we ran the electric stones to check everything was working OK. We milled a bag of wheat to check everything, initially on a low speed but everything seems to be back to normal. We are just testing the quality of the flour, and then we will be back in full production again, (of course we can still mill using wind power when the wind speed is high enough).
Over the next few days we will post more photos from last Wednesday. #holgatewindmill #millstones #millstones #millwright #millwrights #liftingstones #restoration #restoredwindmill #millsarchive #redressing