THE FENS AROUND Bourne have a long history of pioneering projects that produce power from the elements. The latest technology includes wind turbines and solar farms but the pace of their introduction has not yet reached the level attained by the windmill revolution of past centuries.  

Windmills first appeared in Persia in the 7th century, reaching Europe 500 years later and thereafter their use spread rapidly. By the early 19th century, there were about 10,000 windmills in England and Wales, grinding grain, driving mechanical saws, raising coal, pumping water and making paper. Tower mills were the most popular of all of the windmills with the machinery in a fixed tower surmounted by a rotating cap carrying the sails.  

In 1763, for instance, fifty windmills or wind engines are listed as working in Deeping Fen, near Bourne, to drain some 30,000 acres of farmland that has since become some of the most productive in the world. Arthur Young, who carried out a survey of farming activity in Lincolnshire in 1799, said that when the sails were turning at full speed, these massive machines could raise 60 tons of water every minute. 

But the main use of the windmill was to grind corn. Most large villages had one and several were operating in the Bourne area, among them being Woolley's Mill at the appropriately named Windmill Farm, a mile west of Tongue End, south of Bourne.  

The mill ground corn and other grain brought in by barge along the River Glen and navvies working on various drainage schemes over the years were housed there and fed from the adjoining bakery which also supplied residents of Tongue End. It was not uncommon for up to 60 navvies at a time to be living at the Mill House. The mill closed in 1912 and has since been demolished. 

Another windmill, Ward's Mill, was built in 1910 alongside the Division Drain between the parishes of Bourne and Thurlby. It was owned by Mr Jonathan Ward, a local farmer, and was made of timber and also drove a wheel for drainage but was blown down in a gale within a year of construction. It is unlikely to have been a particularly solid structure because the mill sails were made of canvas and these had to be frequently reduced or increased in size according to the strength of the wind.  

Ward, who lived at the Manor House, Thurlby, farmed on a large scale and is recorded as saying: "Any fool can farm in bed when it's dry but you have got to be out and about when it's wet." He always had a five-gallon jar of whisky with a tap at the bottom available and he never allowed it to be less than one third full. 

Evidence of village windmills can still be seen in the area, particularly at Dyke, which is within the parish of Bourne. Just off the main street is an old smock mill although now in private hands and adapted for other uses in recent years including for the sale of antiques, arts and crafts and picture framing.  

It was originally one of the pumping mills in Deeping Fen, probably built by Dutch drainage engineers in the 17th century, and around 1840 it was moved to Dyke and fitted with corn milling machinery but lost its sails in 1923 and so ended its wind-powered working life. The mill had a boat-shaped cap turned to wind by a braced tailpole, both features inherited from its former use, and two common and two spring shuttered sails driving three pairs of stones. 

The last miller was Thomas Sommerfield who wrote in September 1940: "It was the best fitted mill I was ever in, but old fashioned outside. I worked it for 32 years. It was dismantled in 1927 and was in my family for 63 years. All the spindles below the stones were turned and I took great pride in keeping them polished with sandpaper. The governors [used to regulate the distance and pressure between the millstones] were also bright. I never saw this anywhere else in my life. Everything was of the best. My father thought a lot of this mill." 

Bourne is best known for its watermills, three of which were powered by the Bourne Eau, but a windmill at the corner of North Road and Mill Drove also dominated the skyline from the earliest times although the original structure was rebuilt as a four-sailed windmill in 1832 when the old stone tower was raised to six storeys in height. 

It became known as Wherry's Mill and continued grinding corn until 1915 when it was struck by lightning and badly damaged, reducing it to two storeys. The stump was roofed and later used as a storeroom by a subsequent owner, the late Tom Jones (1915-1993), farmer and antique dealer, who also converted adjoining outbuildings as showrooms to display his antiques. After his death, the remains of the mill were demolished in 1994 to make way for a new house.  

There is evidence that a second mill once stood on the south corner of Mill Drove because a map from the early 19th century shows this road connecting with the main Peterborough to Lincoln Road, now the A15, "at a place between the windmills".  

Windmills were a familiar sight in the countryside in past times and without them life would have been hard indeed because they produced the power to grind corn and other commodities and to keep the swampy marshland drained and productive in this part of the country.  

Most windmills are now protected buildings, Dyke Mill being listed Grade II in July 1977 and restored in 1998 and it would be unthinkable to even consider its demolition. So it is with England’s other remaining windmills which have become part of our heritage and in centuries to come it is quite possible that the earliest of the wind turbines now being built, and perhaps even solar farms, will also be preserved as part of our industrial heritage.