Maud Foster Windmill

click photo to enlarge

The Maud Foster windmill stands by the Maud Foster Drain in Boston, Lincolnshire. It was built by the Hull millwrights, Norman & Smithson in 1819, and was located here to grind wheat brought to the mill by barge along the drain. When it was erected it was one of a dozen mills in Boston. Today it is the only working mill, and is open to the public, grinding corn most days. The flour is on sale at the mill shop.

Maud Foster has five sails driving iron gearing, and is 80 feet tall to the top of the tower. This is made of bricks, and, unusually in this part of the world, these are not waterproofed with black tar. Three pairs of stones survive from the original installation. The building operated as a mill until 1942. Boston's councillors preserved the building as a landmark in 1953, and in 1988 it was re-opened, after restoration, as a commercial visitor attraction. The seven floors and its balcony are open to visitors, as are the tea-rooms!

Take away the TV aerials and cars, and the view isn't too unlike what Bostonians would have seen in the nineteenth century. This evening image doesn't show off the mill to the best effect - that will doubtless be a future posting! However, it does show it in context, and supplies an attractive focus for the photograph.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 42mm (84mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -2.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On