Windmills

One of the most versatile and popular forms of mill has to be the windmill.

Designed to harvest the energy of the wind, long before the conception of today's modern-day wind turbines, windmills served a number of purposes. Originally designed to grind grain into flour , later windmills were used more for power-generation or for pumping water.

The familiar sight of the four-bladed windmill was first seen in the 9th century in Persia. They quickly spread to Europe and later to China where they were used initially for irrigation purposes.

Windmills developed over the centuries to include new innovations. Rotating windmills, which turned to face the wind direction, arrived in Europe in the 1100s with the earliest UK windmills thought to have originated in the east of England.

Windmills arrived in the United States and, particularly, Canada in the late 1600s with the US windmills thought to be the first to include more than just the four traditional blades. It was found that more blades often resulted in a smoother rotation and therefore a more efficient mill. Multi-blade windmills arrived in the UK in the 1700s with the county of Lincolnshire ultimately playing home to the most multi-sailed mills in the country.

While traditional mills still serving their original purpose are fairly rare in the UK in modern times, many remain as pieces of heritage and are often maintained by voluntary or non-profit societies and groups. Modern-day windmills, now more commonly referred to as wind turbines, are used more or less solely for the production of electricity. However, whatever the modern day style and purpose of these turbines, they still owe their main principals to the traditional windmill of old.